Reset
by Sith Droideka
Summary: Three years ago, detective Hajime Hinata ran away from his fiancée, Chiaki Nanami, to protect her, in the process scarring both of them. Now, after being called back to Japan to investigate the terrorist group Despair, Hinata learns that he must live with his ex-fiancée in her apartment, and in the process confront not only Despair but also their shared past. Major DR 0/2 spoilers.
1. Prologue: Despair

A/N: Well, welcome to my longest fanfic yet. Lately I've noticed that there's very little (okay, none), of one of my favorite pairings, Hinata and Nanami. Thus, I've decided to write some. My apologies if there's little humor or Alter Ego; I'm afraid I'm in a "serious" fanfic phase right now.

* * *

Flight SQ11 touched down at 1 South Terminal, Narita International Airport, and prepared to disgorge its passengers. The large Singaporean plane was filled with tourists and businessmen coming to Japan for, well, tourism and business, but for one young man on board, he was returning home.

Hajime Hinata left the plane, collected his baggage, and exchanged his dollars for yen. Then he boarded a Narita Express train heading to Shibuya Station, and from there, took a taxi to the Roppongi Hills Residences, his target tonight. The sun was already starting to set as he stepped out of the taxi and made his way with his luggage to the Hyatt Tokyo, the place where his company had already arranged for a room for him.

After graduating from Hope's Peak four years ago, Hinata had joined Kirigiri Detective and Law. At the time, the Kirigiri Detective Agency was only a year old and was not too well known, but it exploded into national recognition after their investigation allowed the arrest of a dozen corrupt politicians shortly after Hinata joined. Before long, the KDA had become its own pseudo-police organization, doing investigations into affairs, helping the police with solving robberies and murders, and especially tackling corporate espionage. Then, after the founder's wedding to an old classmate of hers, the KDA had become KDL, and began hiring lawyers. That had been three years ago, while Hinata was investigating the habits of a prominent businessman's wife, and when an incident had happened that Hinata did not like to recall.

And then, shortly afterwards and despite KDL's dire circumstances, Hinata had been promoted and sent to Osaka to set up the first branch of KDL outside of Tokyo. After a couple of years there, he was sent to Los Angeles to set up the first branch in the United States and was put in charge of hiring new detectives and lawyers, usually ones right out of uni. And it was at that point that he'd been called _back _to Japan, this time to Minato ward (where KDL was now based), to investigate a shady businessman backing organized crime groups, based out of the Roppongi complex.

Hinata refocused on his task, and, realizing that he probably looked a little suspicious in his black suit and sunglasses while staring up at Residence B, he began walking towards the entrance to the apartment tower. There was a second problem here, though. Before he'd come to the tower, he'd checked out the mailboxes to find out which tower the crook he was looking for lived in. While he had found them, he'd found out that someone else lived here: his, ah, girlfriend from three years ago, Chiaki Nanami. Hopefully the two wouldn't cross paths... it would be too painful for the both of them.

Hinata entered Residence B, avoided the doorman and staff in the lobby, and then found the stairs. And thus he began his investigation...

* * *

Hinata woke up. He was tucked into a bed, beneath a thin tan blanket. Slowly, he looked around the room: to his right was what looked like two doors ajar enough to show an empty closet, a thinner door next to the closet, and next to the thin door but further back, was a closed, metallic-white door; to his left, there was a white metal end-table with a radio clock on it, and on the left-most wall was a sliding door looking out at the Tokyo skyline. In front of him, mounted on the wall, was a flat-screen television with a piece of paper taped to it reading "Mikan's". There were no drapes, no blinds, and no decorations in the room.

Hinata got up, letting the blanket fall. He realized that had no shirt on anymore. He stumbled out of bed and winced when his shoulder hit the wall; he touched it gingerly and noticed that it was noticably darker than the rest of his skin. "At least nothing feels broken," he murmured. Then he began staggering towards the sliding door.

He slid the door open and walked onto the balcony outside. The balcony was rather large, and from his new vantage-point (leaning against the railing near a large column) he could see that there were, including his room, two sliding doors, the left door (his own) and the right door. To the right of the right room was a wall; to the left of his own room was another four glass doors, that he'd seen when he first walked outside, but now he couldn't see any of them thanks to the large column in the way. The only light was the bright lights of Tokyo at night and a faint flickering white light emanating from the gaps in the blinds of the right room.

Hinata turned around to watch the city. It was quite noisy outside, with the usual sound of cars and trains filling the night, and it was unusually warm for what seemed to be a tower, although that line of thought was cut off as he was enveloped by a gust of wind. As he folded his arms tightly and shivered, he heard a sliding door open and someone walk out onto the balcony.

A pretty light pink-haired girl dressed in a gray nightgown leaned against the railing next to Hinata. "Looks nice, doesn't it," she said. Hinata gulped. "I see you're awake, Hinata-kun," Chiaki Nanami commented. Hinata nodded stiffly back.

They stared out at Tokyo, watching trains and cars and masses of tourists. Hinata was sure that she was thinking the same thing as him, about that terrible incident three years ago.

"You should've seen Komaeda-kun's face when he found you," Nanami said, although she did not turn to face Hinata. "Beaten up, shirt torn, black eye, the works. Someone had it out for you."

Hinata nodded, then shivered again. "Y-y-your apartment?" he said, shivering.

"Yes. 12th floor of the Roppongi Hills Residence B, paid for by exorbitant salary courtesy of Togami Robotics," Nanami said. She put her hand on Hinata's left shoulder- his good shoulder. "It's cold out here. Come inside."

She lead him through the other sliding room and slid the door shut that she must've left open, plunging Hinata back into warmth. Nanami's room, in contrast to Hinata's spartan room, was lively. She had a rather large bed in the middle of the room, its head against the right wall, with gray sheets and pillows; across from the bed was a television mounted on the wall, much like Hinata's room, though unlike Hinata's room a long shelf had been installed underneath the television sporting all sorts of video game systems and games. Framed pictures and posters covered the walls, reminding Hinata partly of an American cinema, and on the back-right side of the room, he could see two sets of closed closet doors. The floor was spotless, there were two bedside tables based on the lamps, and to his immediate left was a stuffed pink rabbit that he knew she'd had for as long as he could remember.

"Better than your room, right?" Nanami said, passing Hinata and jumping onto the bed. Hinata nodded. "That was Mikan- you remember her, right, Mikan Tsumiki-'s old room. She moved out two days ago to live with her new boyfriend, Teruteru Hanamura." She paused. "That's when we found you, by the way."

"What?" Hinata said, and he staggered forward and went careening onto the end of the bed. Then he picked himself up off of it and resumed, "Why didn't I go to the hospital!?"

"Because nothing was broken, and when we called your boss about you she suggested that you stay here until you're well enough to go back to work," Nanami said. She smiled. "Of course, I needed another tenant here, but we decided to wait for you to come to..."

Hinata slumped against the bed and thought. A new tenant? His boss? No hospital? Then he stood up again, lost his balance, and collapsed onto the bed (again), just behind Nanami. He apologized and said, "Why do you want your ex-lover from high school-"

"Hope's Peak functioned as a college too, you know," Nanami interjected.

"-high school and college to live in your apartment?" Hinata finished.

"Because this thing is expensive and I need someone I know will actually work to be my tenant?" Nanami said. She turned around and pushed Hinata off the bed. "You're not allowed in here either, by the way." Once Hinata was off the bed (again), she continued, "besides, as far as Nagito-kun and I could tell, the only reason why you were beat up was because you were lurking around Residence B without actually living here. So, if you live here, you can investigate in peace."

"But how would you know-"

"Nagito-kun overheard the whole exchange."

"Oh."

"And in any case, consider this a 'reset' to our relationship," Nanami said. She stood up. "Go out the door over there-" she pointed to the back of the room, by the closet, "-and you'll find two doors. The door to your right is the washroom and laundry room, and if you keep going through the washroom you'll find the shower. If you go right, you'll find your room. Keep going down the hallway, ignore the door into the living room, and you'll find the entrance. The toilet's the first door on your left."

Hinata nodded, but before opening the door, he said, "Thank you, Nanami-san."

She smiled, again. "Tomorrow's Saturday, and I have work off. We'll go clothing shopping and you can officially accept my offer and collect your stuff from the hotel. Good night."

"Good night."

* * *

They were part of the 79th batch of students attending Hope's Peak Academy. Hinata was the so-called "Ultimate Student", as shown by his status as one of the top students in Japan combined with his raw enthusiasm for an education at Hope's Peak. Nanami was the "Ultimate Gamer" who'd made names for herself in the video game world as a star female gamer and had paid off her family's debts by winning numerous high-profile game tournament. They met on the first day of school, like all members of the 79th batch, and had, at first, gone off to their own worlds.

Hinata was quickly befriended by Ultimate Luck, Nagito Komaeda; Nanami by Ultimate Photographer, Mahiru Koizumi. Months passed, but it was not until the Ultimate Princess Sonia Nevermind arranged for a Halloween celebration that the two actually spent any time together. At Komaeda's suggestion, Hinata and Nanami spent October 31st playing video games in her room, avoiding Sonia's crazy, almost impromptu holiday celebration that was nonetheless still a hit amongst most of the school population.

They spent more time together after that. Hinata enjoyed video games, even if Nanami always beat him. People would cycle in and out as players, but it was always the two of them. With Komaeda's prodding, the two went out on a first date for that year's Valentines, and Nanami chose to give him chocolate; a month later, he reciprocated, as per the tradition (that had been created by the chocolate corporations, but details, details). At the end of the year, they were "officially" a couple, though they had an on-and-off relationship over the next two years. Their relationship issues were further compounded in second year when they had sex for the first time, and despite (or maybe because of) their relative inexperience and the lessons of fanfiction, it only caused more tensions.

By fourth year, when they were both 18, their relationship stabilized, especially thanks to advice from one of the upperclassmen, Makoto Naegi, who'd been in their situation himself. They kept dating, keeping sex sporadic, over the fourth and fifth years. After graduation from Hope's Peak, the two moved into an apartment, where Hinata joined the KDA, and Nanami a robotics testing company (she moved companies in the previous four years).

And then the letter had arrived in the mail. "Brave Soldier of KDA," it read, "We salute you for your service. Tragically, we also feel compelled to make sure that you know the cost of serving hope." Hinata, like the other twenty members of KDA (including the boss, Kyouko Kirigiri), handed the letter over to the police; a week later, the wife of one of the members was assassinated, and soon there were only four people left in KDA: Kirigiri, a former police officer, a fresh-out-of-college Forensics major, and Hinata himself.

* * *

"So, this is where KDL's located?" Nanami said, as she walked into Tokyo Midtown tower with Hinata.

He nodded. "Floor 38," he said, "we have the whole floor."

They walked through the grand lobby and took the elevator to the 38th floor, where they were quickly ushered into the office of KDL's founder (and Hinata's boss), Kirigiri. The office was very nice, with handsome wooden bookshelves holding books on all sorts of subjects on the right wall, a beautiful desk with an expensive-looking Mac on it in the middle of the room, another bookshelf filled with legal books and pictures on the left wall, and several office chairs sitting in front of the desk. Behind the desk was Hinata's boss, Kirigiri, and behind her was her husband, who was sitting in an office chair behind Kirigiri and was shuffling through papers.

"Kirigiri-san," Hinata said, bowing. Nanami followed suit. Kirigiri nodded to the two of them.

"Nanami-san," she said, "please discuss the terms of our deal with my husband." Makoto Kirigiri looked up. "I want to discuss something with Hinata-san. Privately."

Nanami left the room with Makoto, leaving Hinata alone with his boss. "You wanted something, Kirigiri-san?"

"Sit down," she ordered. Hinata obeyed. "Hinata-san," she said, "I'm afraid that I did not give you the whole story when I called you in Los Angeles."

"Oh?"

"I did not think that your target, Ryotsa Masaru, would be so well protected," Kirigiri said, and she reddened ever so slightly. "I'm sorry to have put you through that." Hinata opened his mouth. "But before you ask about the hospital-" Hinata closed his mouth, "-we have reason to believe that the same men behind the assassination of Owara-san and the near assassination of my husband are now in control of the hospitals closest to Roppongi Hills," Kirigiri exposited.

"But I thought the people from three years ago called it off?" Hinata said. For a moment, he remembered being at the wedding and hearing that terrible _crack_, watching the man who'd helped him and Nanami through their relationship issues collapse while his blood splattered onto his new wife.

"Yes, they had for the moment," Kirigiri replied, bringing Hinata back to reality. She glanced at the bookshelf briefly then back at Hinata. "But they recently sent me a note. I've already handed it to the police, but so far nothing's happened. You were in California, so I didn't have time to discuss what happened, but everyone else has been informed."

"And this Ryotsa Masaru is related to the group from three years ago?" Hinata said. Kirigiri nodded.

"Do you remember any of your underclassmen?" Kirigiri said. Hinata shook his head. "Masaru was a 'Ultimate Investment Banker' who was part of the 81st batch, but he lost almost everything in the financial crisis in 2008," she explained. She pulled a picture out of her desk and put it in front of Hinata: the man in the picture had short black hair, wire-frame glasses, and a perfect white smile, and had a large head, but otherwise was indistinct. "This was him earlier this year, at graduation," Kirigiri said. She put the picture away. "Since then, he's rebuilt his fortune, but we know from... certain sensitive sources... that he's been financing Despair along the way."

"Despair, sir?"

"Yes. The terrorist organization calling itself 'Despair', organized by my former classmates Enoshima and Ikusaba," Kirigiri said, "unknown size but known to be recruiting. And they like to go for the talented ones- the übermensch and the intelligentsia. That's who I want you to investigate- specifically, the comings and goings into his apartment."

"But Nanami-san, what if they go after her again!" Hinata said, standing up quickly.

"Sit down, Hinata-san," Kirigiri replied, her voice steady and her face perfectly still. "She knew and insisted on it. She's not worried about Despair going after her, for whatever reason, and Despair has to act in the shadows right now. If they were powerful enough to defy the police, the two of you would already be dead."

Hinata sat down again, and looked down. The door opened and Makoto and Nanami entered. "Alright, Hinata-kun," Nanami said, "let's go get your stuff from the Hyatt, oh, and go shopping for a little too, okay?" She walked up behind him and grabbed his arm. "Come on?"

"Sure," Hinata said, and he stood up. He bowed, first to Kirigiri, then to her husband.

"Good luck, Hinata-san, Nanami-san," Makoto said.

Nanami walked out the door and Hinata moved to follow. "Hinata-san," Kirigiri added, "be careful. I don't want a repeat of what happened."

"Yes sir," Hinata replied. Then he followed Nanami outside.

The two left the building and got in Nanami's car. "So," Nanami said, "you're going to be taking on some terrorists?"

"Yeah." A pang of fear went through Hinata again. "Nanami-san, these people tried to kill Kirigiri-san-"

"I know," Nanami replied. "But I'm no longer a loved one, Hinata-kun, not like he was to your boss. I'll be fine."

The two were silent, listening only to the radio news, until they reached the Hyatt hotel. After retrieving Hinata's things and checking out of the hotel, they dropped the stuff off at Nanami's apartment and went shopping. They returned to the apartment that night with a new Wii U that Nanami took into her room, leaving Hinata alone in the darkness.

Hinata entered his room, where his stuff had been put, and froze. A thin man was sitting on his bed, his face illuminated by the faint glow of a cigarette, revealing sallow skin and a pointy black goatee. The room smelled like smoke. "Hello, Hajime Hinata," the man said. He stood up, and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth. "Name's Hiroshi Nakejawa," he said, "a member of the 70th batch at Hope's Peak Academy. Graduated eleven years ago. I was called, 'Ultimate Sculptor'."

He dropped the cigarette on the floor and smashed it under his foot. "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you," he said when Hinata lunged for his things. "Your boss knows I'm here, probably wants me t' keep an eye on ya."

"If she did, then she'd have no problem with me getting my weapon, would she?" Hinata countered. Nakejawa nodded and put a hand in his pocket- he was dressed in what looked like a grimy trench coat- and pulled out a taser. Hinata quickly pulled it out of Nakejawa's hand, and Nakejawa made no move to take it back.

"It's nice to see you're still as paranoid as you used to be," Nakejawa said, and he sat back down on the bed. "Back when I was on the committee that selected you for entry. You were going to be Reserve Course, you know. Until we intervened."

"Thank you," Hinata replied stiffly. "Do you have a point in being here?"

"I'm here to warn you," Nakejawa said. He stood back up and stalked over to the door. "I found this door unlocked. See you around." He slid the door open and slammed it, then walked off to the right. Hinata locked the door and left the room, and then rushed into Nanami's room.

Where she was changing into her bedclothes, and as such was only in her underwear, though her back was to the door. "Hinata-kun!" she cried, her voice high-pitched, and she twisted slightly to see him, "I said you can't come in-"

"My door was unlocked," Hinata said. He briefly told her about his encounter with Nakejawa while he carefully edged out of the room to give Nanami back her privacy, his face aflame. "Was anything out of place in your room?"

"No!" she called back. She emerged from her room, dressed in light pink pajamas. "I'll go look. You go check your room."

Hinata nodded and returned to his room. He went through his clothes, his souvenirs, his pictures, and even through his computer, camera, and other electronics. Finally, he rifled through his toiletries. Nothing was out of place. There was no note anywhere in his things. Then he glanced up at the wall, at the television, and noticed that it'd gained a second note: "A Monobear went out to play...". He ripped the note down and ran to find Nanami, his heart beating faster and faster. "Nanami-san!"

She emerged from the kitchen. "Did you find something?" she said. Hinata showed her the note, and based on her eyes widening, she was feeling the same as him.

"Do you want me to leave?" Hinata said.

"I'll call the police," Nanami replied. She pulled out her cell phone, then paused and glanced at Hinata. "You're not going anywhere. I'm not going to let a friend die," she stated. Nanami left the room as she dialed a number, leaving Hinata to stand in the kitchen. It was a nice kitchen, but he could focus on that at a later time.

The police came and went. They investigated the apartment, found a poorly installed sound-recording bug in Hinata's room behind his bed, and took the note from Nanami. Then they left, leaving instructions to Hinata and Nanami on how to make sure the sliding doors wouldn't open (put a block of wood in the groove of the sliding doors. Easily removable from the inside, impossible to open without breaking from the outside) and three blocks of wood, so that they could interview Nakejawa and call it a night.

"Well," Nanami said, emerging from her room where she'd been setting up the block, "should we get your room set-up? It's only nine." Hinata, who'd been waiting in the hallway for her, nodded.

The two entered his room and... stopped. It still smelled like smoke. Nanami sighed and pulled out her phone again. "Let me get someone to clean this place," she said. "Hinata-kun, just take the blankets and sheets and put them in the TV room." She stepped out into the hallway and lead Hinata over to a door to his right, in the hall. "It's in here."

Hinata sighed and grabbed bedclothes and a blanket. The TV room was probably the largest room in the apartment, and had a sliding door on the far left wall, an opening that looked into the kitchen, a couch and chairs along the far wall, bookshelves and a television with a Wii and PS3 on the near wall, to Hinata's left, and a glass coffee-table right in front of the couch. A small table with two chairs shoved against it was in the corner of the room by the opening into the kitchen; pictures hung from the wall, and a lamp stood next to the couch. The sliding door already had the wooden stopper, and also had drapes hiding the light pollution. Hinata spread the blanket onto the couch and began to change into his clothes, stripping his shirt off.

And then the door opened. "Oh!" Nanami squeaked, "sorry!" Hinata's face flared again, and he quickly peeked at Nanami standing in the doorway. Her cheeks were now the color of a tomato. "Sorry!" she closed the door. "They're going to come tomorrow morning to clean your room, Hinata-kun!"

"Hey, Nanami-san!" Hinata called back, "Call me Hajime!"

"Fine, Hajime-san," Nanami replied, still through the door, "but don't think that you can call me Chiaki!" She was silent for a moment. "Not until you've earned it," she said, quieter. Hinata finished changing and retired for the night.


	2. A Meeting With Komaeda

**A/N: Well, welcome to part one. Please, if you have any questions, concerns, or criticisms, review!**

* * *

Hinata woke up, awoken by the incessant knocking on the door. "Come on, Hajime-kun, you have a phone call!" Nanami called through the door. He groaned and got up, and stumbled over to the door, wrenching it open and grabbing Nanami's phone out of her hands.

"Hajime Hinata," he groaned.

"Heya Hajime, you up for lunch?" came a cheerful voice on the other end. Nagito Komaeda, whom Hinata hadn't seen in years. "I found you a couple of days ago, least you could do is thank me."

"S-sure," Hinata said, and he yawned. Getting up was difficult. "Where-"

"I'll pick you up, I've got just the place in mind," Komaeda replied. "Bye!"

"Yeah, sure, bye," Hinata said, and he pressed the 'end' button. And then Nanami swiped the phone back from Hinata.

"Ask next time," she growled, and she left Hinata standing in the doorway, and slammed her door. Hinata sighed and went back into his "room" and changed, just in time for someone to knock on the door.

Hinata opened the door again and found Komaeda waiting, his hair as white and vibrant as ever, still wearing jeans and a dark green sweatshirt like the past three years had never happened, and plastered with a huge smile. "Hajime, it's great to see you again," Komaeda said, and he pulled Hinata into a bone-crushing hug. Hinata gasped for breath and then glared at Nanami when she started giggling.

"C'mon, Hajime," Komaeda said, and with an arm looped around his head, started dragging him through the apartment.

"What're you doing?" Hinata gasped, "I told you, I was never interested in you, Nagito!"

"Don't worry, Hajime-kun, Nagito-kun respects you," Nanami said from behind him.

"Yeah Hajime, but just bear with me!" Komaeda added slyly, "Otherwise, people might think that you're living with your girlfriend and thus make her into a target, right?"

"Ah." Hinata sighed and gave in, and stopped trying to struggle out of Komaeda's grasp. "Bye Nanami-san," he said, "looks like I'm off to work."

"Have fun!" she called back, and then Hinata and Komaeda were out the door.

"Let's link arms, be like dignified American couples," Komaeda said.

"No."

"I see you care so much about number four- ah, Chiaki-san's health."

"Shut up." But Hinata still did as directed and was pulled to the elevator shaft, pulled across the lobby into the car garage, and did his best to look at the floor so as to avoid the dirty looks and chuckles he knew he was receiving. Before long, Hinata and Komaeda were in Komaeda's shiny new sports car. "Let me guess," Hinata said, "you won it in a lottery."

"Nah, some lady wanted to sell it cheap to get back at her ex-husband," Komaeda replied. They entered the car, and when Hinata sat down he felt a little prick on the back of his leg.

"So, where're we going?" Hinata said. He yawned again, and tried to rub his leg.

"A nice place I know out in west Tokyo," Komaeda replied. He smiled again and put the car into reverse. "Just go to sleep, I'll wake you up when we're there."

"Huh?" Hinata yawned again and then he felt his eyelids closing. Komaeda gave him one last smile as the world went black.

* * *

Hinata woke up to voices. "Komaeda, when is the food going to arrive?" someone, a voice vaguely familiar from his school days, said in English.

"Calm down," another voice- Komaeda- replied, also in English. Hinata heard glasses and metal clinking. "Looks like Hajime's up."

Hinata sighed and opened his eyes. He was sitting up at a table in a dim room, and he was wrapped in blankets- though he could feel belts or ropes or _something _tying him to the chair. Sitting at the table with him was Komaeda, across from him, and two men he didn't recognize. He quickly looked around, and saw that he appeared to be in a private dining room of some sort based on the walls and the door behind Komaeda, and that the table was covered in cutlery and glasses. Eight chairs, four (including himself) occupied, ringed the table; a large bottle of wine was in the middle of the table, and a couple of baskets of bread were scattered around it. The door opened and a woman wearing a strange black-and-white mask entered the room and holding a tray with five dishes on it, closed the door, set the tray on the table. Then she sat down in one of the empty chairs, next to Komaeda, and pulled the mask off.

The room remained silent, giving Hinata time to think. The first man, to his right, was tall, pale, and had a long scar down his face; the second man, to Hinata's left, was also tall, chubby, and had his black hair tied back in a ponytail. The last person, the woman sitting next to Komaeda, was the only other person that Hinata recognized, based on her long brown hair and cheerful smile: Sonia Nevermind, so-called Ultimate Princess, whom he hadn't seen for four years.

"Good afternoon, Hajime," Komaeda said, in Japanese. "Please meet Iyatso Tsuji," and the tall, scarred man bobbed his head, "and Saul Tsuji," and the ponytail man nodded, "and you already know Sonia."

"Hello again, Hinata-kun," Sonia said, and she smiled at him.

"Pleased to meetch ya," Saul Tsuji drawled. "So's Iyatso, but he's mute." Iyatso Tsuji nodded again. "We're brother-in-laws," Saul said. "So, I understand yer Komaeda's old friend?"

Hinata took a deep breath and then looked directly into Komaeda's eyes. "Why am I here? Why am I tied up?"

"Relax, Hajime," Komaeda said. "We don't want you running off is all. This place is run by Despair- we'll find you and catch you, but I don't want to take any chances."

And with that one word- "we"- Hinata was rendered speechless. He felt as if someone had stabbed him with a knife. "Surprised, Hinata-kun?" Sonia said. "Why do you think I was wearing that mask?"

"Thanks for leaving your door unlocked, by the way," Komaeda added. "I hope you liked our presents."

"Why are you telling me this?" Hinata growled. Komaeda smiled back but said nothing. The knife twisted. "I trusted you," Hinata hissed. Komaeda just kept smiling- his expression didn't waver in the slightest. And, with dawning comprehension that Komaeda was not the man he remembered, Hinata shouted, "Why are you in Despair!?"

"Why not?" Komaeda said, and he shrugged. His tone was calm and collected- it seemed that he didn't care about what he'd done to Hinata. "I guess I just wanted to be part of the despair that hope will power through."

"I joined to be with Nagito," Sonia said, taking his arm, "and because of all the serial killers they employ. I get to meet them!"

"Iyatso joined because he lost his voice," Saul said, "he used to be 'Ultimate Opera Singer', but after an accident, he was never the same. And me? I joined because my wife was hospitalized and the only way to heal her was to join Despair. She was Ultimate Archeologist, I was Ultimate Linguist."

Hinata looked around the four, and resolved to just get them talking. He felt as if his blood was freezing. "So, if I call for help-"

"You'll die," Komaeda said. "See, you're not supposed to be here. I run this cell, and you'd better thank me for saving you from Masaru's thugs."

"You... run this cell?" Hinata said.

"Yeah," Sonia said, "welcome to the Minato cell, Despair. We're not big enough to go out in the open like we can in America or Africa, though."

"And why are you telling me?" Hinata repeated.

"Because we are the despair that hope will power through," Komaeda replied. He smiled and leaned forward. "Hajime, you cannot repeat what happens today to anyone, including Nanami-san. I don't want blood on my hands."

Hinata stared at Komaeda. "I know that she's all you have left," Komaeda said, "you told me all those years ago. And just because the something you two once shared has withered away, it's not dead."

Iyatso grabbed a dish from the tray. "Let's eat," Saul said. They ate in silence, and Hinata refused to let Komaeda or Sonia feed him, leaving Hinata to stew in, well, despair at his friend's betrayal. Once the four Despair members were done, Komaeda got up from his chair, pulled the blankets off, and pulled out a knife. "You can walk back to Roppongi from here," Komaeda said. "Tell anyone about our meeting, Nanami-san dies. Got it?"

Hinata nodded stiffly, his body felt leaden. "And," Sonia said, "you're coming to our wedding."

"In return," Komaeda said, "we'll keep Masaru off your backs. We need him gone anyways, and he's much more ruthless then I am. He wants to go up, I can tell." Komaeda cut the ropes.

And thus the meeting ended. The restaurant was bustling but no one seemed to notice Hinata as he left, and as soon he was back in his new apartment he slammed the door and collapsed onto the ground as his mind replayed Komaeda's warning and betrayal over and over again.

* * *

It was two in the morning, at a little apartment in western Tokyo. They were both in bed- she was facing him, thoroughly asleep, her right arm underneath a pillow, her left arm in the space between them, while the man was staring up at the ceiling, awoken by his constant nightmare. She was lucky- she wasn't there. An engagement ring glittered in the light pouring in between the blinds.

A phone buzzed in the darkness. The woman stirred, but with a soft platitude, she drifted off into sleep again. The man picked up his phone, and flipped it open. A message was displayed- "Brave soldier of KDA, we salute you for your service..."

* * *

Hinata awoke under the gray sheets of Nanami's room. Nanami was off to his right, peering down at something. He turned his head slightly to look at that something, which turned out to be an oral thermometer. "No fever," she muttered. "But Nagito-kun said... oh! Good, you're awake!"

Hinata said nothing, only peeling his blankets away and sitting up. "Sorry," he croaked, "What did Nagit-Komaeda say?"

"He called me and said you weren't feeling well at the restaurant, that you had a fever-"

Hinata interrupted her with a brief, hacking laugh that sounded like a particularly violent cough. He wished it _had _been just a fever-dream, but the way Komaeda was acting... "I'm fine, Nanami-san, let's just go... fix up my room or something," Hinata said, and, not listening to her protests, he stumbled out of her room.

The rest of the day was spent preparing Hinata's room. Hinata worked in guilty silence as Nanami talked about her newest game and speculated about the newest Smash Bros. game, but it wasn't long before she realized that he wasn't saying anything. "Is something wrong, Hajime-kun?" she asked him, sitting down on his bed. Hinata kept hanging his clothes in his closet.

"Hajime-kun?" Hinata turned to his bags and closed them. He had finished with his room. He'd put the bed against the wall, added a small desk, and put up drapes. The room no longer smelt of smoke, and he'd put up pictures from school and from America on the wall. He avoided pictures of his days with Komaeda or Nanami, however. "Hajime-kun, why aren't you talking?"

"Sorry, Nanami-san," Hinata said, and he put his bags in his closet and closed the door. "Can we eat here for dinner?"

"Sure," Nanami said, "although I'm not a very good cook-"

"I'll handle it," Hinata replied. They left his room and walked to the kitchen. It was a nice kitchen, filled with modern appliances and covered in digital displays. He pulled the refrigerator open and set to work. "Can you chop vegetables?"

"Yeah," Nanami replied. She set to work and said, "So, other than being sick, how was your date with Komaeda-kun?"

Hinata ignored her and focused on cooking. "C'mon Hajime-kun, it's been years! Weren't you glad to see your old friend?" Nanami said.

"Yeah, I'm glad he's the same as ever," he lied, as airily as he could, but he knew he just sounded tired- and sick. "Nanami-san, he's getting married soon."

"I know! He's so lucky- Sonia's so happy now! After what happened with Tanaka-san and Souda-san, I thought she'd never start dating again," Nanami said, chopping away obliviously.

"She was dating them?" Gundam Tanaka, Ultimate Animal Breeder, had died in prison a year ago, after committing suicide; he'd killed Ultimate Mechanic Kazuichi Souda in a car accident in what the courts, and Kirigiri, believed was a deliberate act of murder.

"That was one of the motives," Nanami replied, "or at least, that's what she told me."

"I thought they were talking about a hamster! I worked on that case!"

"That was what Tanaka-san claimed, not the truth," Nanami said. "Plus, I bet you were distracted, what with the 'brave soldiers of KDA' thing."

"Yeah, I was," Hinata replied. And that was the last of their discussion.

An hour later, after dinner in the TV room was over, Nanami and Hinata were in her room, playing a new Mario game; Nanami sitting on the end of her bed, Hinata in front of her. Naturally, Nanami was taking every chance to send Hinata into a bottomless pit, to the point that before long he was just watching while she blitzed through the game. While they played, they talked about their lives post-celebration, about Komaeda and Sonia's upcoming marriage, about KDL and Togami Robotics, about the video games industry, and about the ongoing scandals plaguing the Americans' former president and new president.

"Well, hopefully their new president will just pardon that whistleblower," Nanami said, as she cleared world 5. "I like his hair."

"He's a Republican," Hinata said, "and Clinton, Bush, and Obama are all urging him to continue spying on the world. Snowden's staying in Russia."

"Yeah, well, a girl can hope, right?" Nanami said. "You going to bed now?"

"Not yet," Hinata said. Nanami played on in silence for a little, and then Hinata said, "Nanami-san, why'd you really take me in?"

"What?"

"I ran away. I got scared. Then I turn up, beaten half to death, and you decide you want me in your life all over again?"

Nanami said nothing, though Hinata could see that she was starting to tremble slightly. Then she made Mario jump, and he went flying into a pit... "Hinata-kun," she whispered, "all that time ago, after we graduated, you said I was the only family you had left. I remembered that, even if you didn't."

She returned to her gaming and the two said nothing for the next half hour. Finally, Hinata stood up and stretched.

"Hey, out of the way!" Nanami snapped, her composure regained. Hinata turned around, and then tackled her to the bed. "What are you doing, we're not like that anymore! That's not what I meant!" she gasped.

And then Hinata put his mouth next to her ear and hissed, "Nagit-Komaeda says he'll kill you if I step out of line. He's in Despair. 'Don't tell anyone or she'll die', is what he told me." Then he got back up. "Sorry, but I just hope you'll trust me," Hinata said. Nanami stared at him as he left the room.

* * *

With a knock at the door, Hinata woke up. "I'm going to work now, Hajime-kun," Nanami called, "you should go do whatever you KDL soldiers do too!"

Hinata groaned and got out of bed. Before long, he was up, washed, and ready for work. His gun was on his person hidden, his official police pass was in his wallet, and he was ready for a day of work.

Which was what he did. He disguised himself and paid a visit to Masaru Investment Inc., where he learned nothing, and then visited Masaru's apartment in Roppongi. He failed to discover anything there; he only narrowly avoided a pair of shady men emerging from Masaru's apartment shortly after Hinata finished examining the immediate surroundings.

"Ya think Persia's out to get 'im?" drawled the first man exiting; he was a tall, skinny man with pale skin, short black hair, and an unlit cigarette dangling out of his mouth.

"Shut up, Athens," snapped a second man; that man was tall but portly, tanned, and had bleached hair. "Leave off the boss, let Xiong Nu do the thinkin', all right?"

The first man, Athens, snorted, "Aw, shuddup, Sparta-san," and trudged onwards, his head bowed, and as such didn't see Hinata take a picture of him as he passed; the other man, Sparta, followed suit. Hinata was able to take a picture of Sparta's back. And they probably had to be thugs in order to be so stupid as to use code-names in the law-abiding world, Hinata decided.

He spent the rest of the day milling about the 19th floor, now disguised as a janitor, keeping tabs on Masaru's apartment. No one came and no one left, until finally, as Hinata was busy scrubbing the wall near an elevator in an attempt to keep Komaeda off his mind, the elevator door opened and out stepped Ryotsa Masaru.

The picture had not done Masaru justice. He was huge, for one thing, and his mere walk exuded power and confidence. His suit was not exactly loose fitting and Hinata could see that Masaru's arms and chest were very muscular. His glasses were wire-framed, just like at graduation, but Hinata could see a screen flickering on Masaru's right lens; his black hair looked just like it did in the picture, though. "Greetings, janitor-san," Masaru said as soon as he stepped off of the elevator, and he bowed. Hinata quickly stood up and bowed back. Then they both straightened. "I'm pleased to see that someone has cleaned this wall at long last," Masaru commented, glancing at the wall (which, in Hinata's opinion, looked no different). He paused, and then said aloud, "Sorry Nidai-kun, I was speaking with a janitor." Then Masaru walked to his apartment, ignoring Hinata's eyes boring into his back, and entered.

Once he stepped in, Masaru said, "Watch your back, janitor. There are men here who mean you much harm." Then he shut the door.

Hinata returned to Nanami's apartment to find her already there, frying something. "Working hard, Nanami-san?" he said once he'd snuck up on her.

Nanami glanced to the side almost immediately. "Oh, it's you," she said, after a moment. "Take the pan."

"Right. How was work?"

"Boring. I see you're a janitor."

"Yeah."

And that was all they said that night. They ate in silence, and then Nanami left for her room and Hinata for his.


	3. A Wedding Invitation

**A/N: My apologies for the wait, but my hard drive died and took with it my updated copy of this story, meaning that I had to rewrite part of this chapter. In any case, review if you have any questions and comments!**

* * *

"Brave soldier of KDA Kyouko Kirigiri, we salute you for your service. Tragically, we also feel compelled to make sure that you know the cost of serving hope. If you do not renounce your crusade, then your loved one shall suffer."

Kirigiri finished reading the note aloud to her assembled audience: Makoto Naegi, her fiancé; Hajime Hinata, a fellow graduate of Hope's Peak; Reiko Honda, a former police detective ten years older than Kirigiri; and Nibashi Hayao, a recent graduate of an American school who'd come back to Japan clutching a Forensics degree.

"What do we do?" Naegi said, looking up to her for answers like he'd had for the past four years. "Are we going to hold off on the wedding?"

Hayao, Honda, and Hinata also looked over at Kirigiri. They were all sitting in surplus office chairs in the first floor of an old warehouse, their desks shoved along the wall and covered with papers, and posters covering the walls with information about their various targets.

"What do you want, Makoto?" Kirigiri said.

Naegi glanced down at his engagement ring, then back at her. "Let's hold the wedding."

"You sure, Naegi-sama?" Honda said. "They're going to go after you-"

"We're holding it indoors and there can be heavy police protection," Naegi countered. "Besides, I'm not going to put some terrorists ahead of our special day."

"There won't _be _a special day if you get killed, Naegi-san," Hinata pointed out.

"Would you break your marriage off to Nanami-san if someone went after her?" Hayao said, and he swiveled in his chair to face Hinata.

"I'd delay, but not cancel- it's not like the ceremony's the important part," Hinata replied, firmly. "But that's neither here nor there. Naegi-san's in danger, and if these terrorists were to find out their wedding plans-"

"I agree with Hinata-san," Honda said. "I left the force for a reason. If we let the wedding continue as planned, then you can bet that damn hoodie of yours that they're going to strike."

Naegi tugged self-consciously on his hoodie as Hayao stepped up to defend him. "Honda-san, it's a special day! Surely you know that-"

"My husband and I would've put off our marriage if he were in danger," Honda said. She snorted and jerked her head back to facing Kirigiri, sending her long black hair flying through the air. "What d'you think, Kirigiri-sama?"

"I think that Makoto should be allowed to decide this," she said, as evenly as possible. She could feel fear coursing through her body, but Naegi was right- it would be a closed event with heavy police protection. She got up, walked around her desk, and, in a rare display of affection, smiled and put a hand on Honda and Hinata's shoulder. "Don't worry, Honda-san, Hinata-san. Things will turn out well."

* * *

A week passed, then two. Hinata and Nanami's conversations consisted of simple hellos and goodbyes, along with little conversations about their work, but otherwise they said nothing. They ate together only twice, since usually Hinata arrived well after Nanami had finished dinner; in the evenings, Hinata would retreat into his room to review the case and watch the news, while the sound of video games from Nanami's room trickled into his.

As for work, Hinata had visited KDL only once to review the pictures of Athens and Sparta, which meant that he'd spent an hour reviewing documents with Sayako Maizono, the secretary, and Makoto Kirigiri. Athens, real name Motzu Mo, was once called the "Ultimate Electrician" and had graduated in 1989 from Hope's Peak. Sparta, real name Vincent Hakabe, meanwhile, was called the "Ultimate Fisherman" and had graduated from Hope's Peak in 1994. His grandmother had married an American after the war, apparently.

But Masaru was the strangest one of all. He constantly hinted that he knew who Hinata was, and yet, he never acted on it. More than once, Athens and Sparta had been slinking around and even threatened Hinata in his janitor act, only for Masaru to order them away. When Hinata had asked why, all Masaru would do was wink and say, "You're the hope that'll power through despair."

And thus, Hinata returned to the apartment, this time only a minute late. "Good evening, Hajime-kun," Nanami said as soon as he entered; she had changed to jeans and a Sony t-shirt and was standing in the entrance to the kitchen. "Want to help cook?"

Hinata pulled his shoes off and followed her. "How was your day, Nanami-san?" he said, ever so politely, as he once again took out the frying pan.

"I got a note," she said, "left in my purse at work." She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Hinata.

"Brave Soldier, warring against despair, we salute you. It has come to our attentions that you have been informed of us. We hope that you have a pleasant rest of the day, but the time must come that you be silenced," it read.

"What happened?" Hinata yelped, looking up very quickly at Nanami.

"I gave it to KDL, they sent a detective out to escort me home, and they found that someone tampered with my car," Nanami said casually. "I thought about calling you, but I knew you were busy playing janitor and watching that man on the 19th floor."

She took the note and burnt it in the stove. "That was a copy, by the way," she added before turning back to cooking.

"Sorry 'bout putting you in danger," Hinata replied.

"Hajime-kun, I'm glad that you're being honest with me," Nanami said. "Too little too late, but it's a start."

They finished cooking in silence and then sat down to eat. "Nanami-san, do we really need to bring _that _up?" Hinata said, waving his utensils vaguely in her direction.

"It's going to come up if we're living in close proximity, Hajime-kun," Nanami replied.

"Yeah, yeah, but still..." Hinata trailed off and pointedly averted his gaze.

"You were the one who ran away. Not me. And it looks like you're repeating that performance," Nanami replied, very steadily, although her breathing sounded… uneven. Hinata glanced up to see that she was looking at him with what looked like a defiant glint in her eye.

"Sorry." Hinata returned to his work.

* * *

They ate in silence once again, and then a phone broke the silence- Hinata's. "Hajime Hinata speaking," Hinata said.

"Hello, Hajime," came the overly-cheerful voice of Komaeda. "I understand you tried to rat me out. Don't worry! I've granted you an exception."

"Because your plan was foiled?" Hinata hissed, and he tried to ignore his memories of his school days with Komaeda.

"Yep. Togami's going to find out and beef up security. Ah, well, it's not like you could've done anything anyway. Kirigiri-san's known for a while yet the police still won't come for me. Shows what I can do, right?" Komaeda replied. He giggled. "Forgive my villainy, but could we meet tomorrow for another meeting? Just you, Nanami-san, Sonia, and I. We can discuss how to make sure this _never happens again_. Oh, and, I'll pick you up. Be there or I'll actually strike. Bye."

The call terminated. "Who was it?" Nanami said.

"A friend," Hinata replied. He put the phone away and looked into her eyes. "We have a lunch date with Komaeda tomorrow." Her eyes widened slightly.

* * *

Komaeda and Sonia picked them up in the morning just as he promised, and Nanami and Hinata had to ride in the back of his car as he drove them through Tokyo's traffic at a snail's pace. This, of course, resulted in Hinata and Nanami saying nothing while Komaeda and Sonia discussed wedding invitation lists.

"So, how about the 78th class?" Sonia said. The car, a nondescript coupe, turned around a corner.

"Well," Komaeda said, and he briefly glanced at Sonia, "let's see..."

"I think you should invite my boss and an army of police officers," Hinata offered. Komaeda turned his attention back to the road and Sonia turned around in her seat and glared at Hinata.

"We're already inviting the Kirigiris," she said. She turned back to the front. "And we're inviting you two too. That's two cops, one lawyer, and one roboticist, okay?"

"I already told you that Kirigiri-san knows, Hajime," Komaeda added. "I really don't know why you think she'd interrupt our wedding anyways. I didn't have anything to do with her husband's near-assassination. That was long before we joined Despair."

Hinata and Nanami said nothing. To be frank, Hinata thought that Komaeda's brutal honesty was surprising considering the two witnesses with him. Then again, both himself and Nanami already knew about him- perhaps Komaeda was more discreet around other people.

They arrived at the same restaurant as last time. To be technical, it was on the top floor of a skyscraper owned by Masaru Investment Inc., and happened to be a shiny, bustling restaurant run by Chef Teruteru Hanamura. The waitresses (and they were all waitresses) served food in half-black, half-white bear masks too, bizarrely enough. "This place is the stepchild of the Hanamura restaurant empire," Komaeda explained as a waitress lead Komaeda and company through the crowded, dimly-lit place. They weaved between tables and were eventually lead into a side booth against a window that looked down on the city.

"Most people don't know why, but the atmosphere here is very different from his other restaurants," Sonia said, another smile on her face. "But I like it here. It has that nice... horror-movie feel to it. Like it's going to turn out to only serve human flesh or something."

Hinata and Nanami both glanced down at their menus. "Don't worry," Komaeda said, "Hanamura-kun doesn't serve anything like that." Lunch proceeded awkwardly from that point forward. Despite Komaeda's assurances, Hinata pointedly only ordered a nice, meatless entrée, and Nanami copied him. Then Hinata listened as Komaeda, Sonia, and Nanami enthusiastically discussed survival horror games, one of those genres that Hinata had never been able to get into.

The food arrived, and the subject switched to a more stomach-churning topic. "So, Hinata-kun, tell me, how was your love life in America?" Sonia said, glancing up at Hinata and smiling at him.

Hinata winced and tried to back into his seat. "I don't want to talk about this," Hinata said hastily.

"C'mon, Hajime," Komaeda said, and he leaned across the table and waved a fork in Hinata's direction, "I'm not going to record it and blackmail you!"

"No! I'm not going to talk!" Hinata snapped back.

Komaeda sighed and glanced at Nanami. "A little help?" he said.

"It's none of your business," Nanami replied.

"How about you, then?" Sonia said, and she, too, stared at Nanami. "How've the last couple of years been?"

"That's also none of your business," Nanami growled. She began eating her salad aggressively.

Komaeda and Sonia sighed dramatically. "Oh well," Komaeda said, "it's not like it'd be news to us anyways. Maybe we should tell Hajime...?"

Hinata shook his head rapidly. "Well, then tell us!" Sonia said.

"That's blackmail," Nanami said.

"We're part of a terrorist organization, did you forget that?" Komaeda said. He began smirking. "Now, Hajime, tell us, what were you up to in America?"

"...I set up a KDL office in California. How many dating opportunities do you think I had?" Hinata said.

"You're young, fit, handsome, and smart," Komaeda commented. Sonia shot a disproving glance at Komaeda, who quickly said, "not better than Sonia, of course, but still!" Apparently she knew about Komaeda's long-lasting crush on Hinata throughout all five years at Hope's Peak.

"Yes, there were people interested in me," Hinata replied. "I always ignored them. I didn't ask anyone out. I just focused on my work, shuffling papers and handling bureaucrats. Why do you think I was so rusty when I came back?"

"Why you're so rusty now?" Nanami said. She put her fork down and crossed her arms. "I remember how you used to come hom- to the apartment and you looked unrecognizable. Now, you dress up like a janitor and call it a day?"

"If it's any consolation," Sonia said, "Athens and Sparta have maybe two braincells between them, ever since their accident."

"Did something bad happen to everyone in Despair?" Hinata said. Komaeda and Sonia nodded. "Of course."

"Are you going to respond to me, Hajime-kun?" Nanami said, interrupting Hinata's complaint. Hinata shook his head. "Of course..."

"Well, now we can tell you about Nanami-san's love life!" Komaeda said. Nanami glared at him, but he ignored her. "You know, tit-for-tat, right?"

"Shut up, Komaeda," Hinata growled. "I don't want to hear it."

"C'mon Hajime, you shouldn't tell me to shut up," Komaeda replied. His infuriating smirk didn't leave, while his eyes darkened considerably, to the point of looking almost entirely black. "You shouldn't tell your best friend that when there are larger things afoot. The death game failed, but it _will _be revived..."

"Sorry," Sonia said, and she grabbed Komaeda's arm. "He's ranting again." She pulled Komaeda out of the booth and lead him towards the bathroom.

"For the record," Nanami said, glancing at Hinata, "after... what happened, I dated three guys. First one we just kinda fell apart, second one left when he found out I wasn't a virgin, third was a wannabe abuser in front of Nidai-kun and Owari-san." Hinata winced. "Yeah, I think he was in the hospital for a month."

Komaeda and Sonia returned to the table. "Sorry about that," Komaeda said, "now, shall we return to our previous topic?"

"No," both Hinata and Nanami said.

"Fine," Komaeda replied, "so, I guess we can just talk about the wedding again then..."

* * *

When Hinata and Nanami arrived at her apartment, the sun had already set and the nightlife had already begun. Following the dinner-date, Komaeda and Sonia had dragged their two unwilling guests to Sonia's tidy and expansive apartment, where they watched some American horror movie that Hinata did not want to recall; Komaeda dropped them off silently.

Hinata and Nanami entered their respective rooms, but unlike most nights Hinata did not hear the usual sound of video games coming through the wall. What he did hear was the sound of someone shuffling around on the balcony outside, but all it turned out to be was Nakejawa pacing around, deep in conversation on his phone while a cigarette dangled from his fingers.

Hinata watched Nakejawa through the blinds for a second or two before retiring for the night.

* * *

It was a beautiful church, a Christian one that Makoto's family had attended in the past, on the very outskirts of Tokyo. It had been chosen by the couple for two reasons: one, because the death threats necessitated a change from the original outdoor setting, and two, Kyouko had no desire to let her father help plan, leaving Makoto's parents as the sole parental authorities for planning.

As for the actual ceremony, Makoto's sister Nozomi had taken over directing the set-up for the wedding, with the help of police organizers so as to ensure that the police protection would be unimpeded. The list of guests consisted of Makoto and Kyouko's family, fellow Hope's Peak graduates, the remaining members of KDA, and the two's other, non-Hope's-Peak friends; the only exceptions were the police and Nanami, who were all busy with the security procedures.

"Are Makoto-oniisan and Kyouko-san really this important?" had been Nozomi's complaint when she found out about all of the extra security and precautions.

"Well, you know that your soon-to-be sister-in-law has a lot of government secrets," Hinata had replied, "they need to make sure that Kirigiri-san's safe, and by extension, Naegi-kun as well."

"Ah." And thus the wedding preparations were completed, and the ceremony nearly went off without a hitch. It was your typical western-style wedding (chosen for its comparative cheapness) up until after the wedding vows and ring exchange. Because that was when the first bomb went off.

It had gone off after the minister announced, "You may now kiss the bride". The explosion was massive and extremely loud, and shattered the glass in the chapel; one of the guests, Mukuro Ikusaba, had called out that there could be more bombs and the police ordered an evacuation. And just in time, too, as another bomb went off just as the newlyweds escaped from the building and the ceiling began collapsing.

"Let's go, let's go!" Sakura Oogami had roared, leading everyone away from the building and out into the surrounding land as with a massive _crash_ the outer wall began crumbling. And then, a loud _crack _rang out and Makoto had collapsed, blood staining his suit, while his wife desperately tried to tend to him. Police paramedics rushed forwards while a group of officers set off in the direction of the assassin, and before long the wail of sirens filled the air. Byakuya Togami, the best man, and Oogami had to drag Kyouko away from Makoto while the paramedics tended to him and loaded him into the ambulance; soon, she was sitting in the sole police cruiser, her face blank and her dress stained red, while the police, Reiko Honda, and Mondo Oowada argued about the next course of action.

Eventually, Kiyotaka Ishimaru drove off with Kyouko to go to the hospital, followed by Jin Kirigiri and the Naegis. The rest of the police returned, their search fruitless, and they began initiating their usual procedure; considering the massive illegality of not only possessing a rifle in Japan, but also using it to attempt to kill someone privy to the secrets of the state (and missing, apparently) they would have to go all-out to apprehend the culprit. This meant, of course, that the remaining three members of KDA and a skeleton force of officers were left to tend to the remaining guests.

And so it was at the end of a very busy day that Hinata returned to his and Nanami's apartment in Tokyo to await tomorrow morning and more police questions. "Horrible, isn't it?" Nanami had commented as soon as she shut the door behind her into their little entry hall.

"Yeah," Hinata said, and he imagined being in his boss's position for a moment. "Chiaki," he said, turning to her, "do you think that Kirigiri-san will be alright?"

Nanami frowned. "I-I have no doubt that they'll save Nae-Kirigiri-kun," she replied, though she sounded shaken. She put her hand on Hinata's right shoulder and for a moment her engagement ring shone in the light. "But in the end, the truth will always win."

Hinata closed his eyes and considered her words. "C'mon, Hajime, let's go to bed," Nanami added, "I'm tired, and so are you."

But Hinata remained rooted to the spot. He could feel his stamina ebbing away and he was beginning to feel light-headed as Makoto Kirigiri's near-assassination played out in his head over and over; he only opened his eyes when, for the briefest of moments, he saw instead of the newlyweds, he saw himself and Nanami.

"Hajime." Hinata returned to reality as Nanami took his hand. "We'll be fine." Hinata stared at her, dressed up in a dark blue formal dress, and imagined her in a wedding dress- a dress darkened with blood. "Hajime, snap out of it." Hinata blinked and she was back in her formal dress. Nanami moved in front of him and stared into his eyes. "Hajime Hinata, come to bed this instant," she ordered, "you need sleep."

Hinata followed behind her into their room and before long the two of them were changed into their bedclothes and beneath the covers. Their room wasn't terribly large, and its only features were its stuffed closet, the light pink window drapes, the two cheap wooden chairs that Hinata's black suit and Nanami's blue dress were currently draped over, and the large bed and its accompanying end-tables that a radio clock and two lamps were sitting on, and the pink bunny in the corner. It might've been low-class, but it was home.

Hinata glanced slightly to his left and saw that Nanami was still awake and staring at the ceiling. Underneath the covers, her right hand took Hinata's left. "Chiaki," Hinata said, "do you think we'll find the man who shot Kirigiri-kun?"

"I hope we do," she replied, and her grip tightened. "But you know that-"

"-that truth will always win? Yeah, I know." Hinata smiled at her, and she returned the smile. Then Nanami sat up and switched her bedside lamp off, plunging the couple into darkness. Thanks to the overcast sky, there wasn't even any moonlight. "When do you think he'll be out of the hospital?"

"I don't know, Hajime. Just go to sleep." She laid down again and closed her eyes, her mouth slightly open as usual, her head facing Hinata's. Hinata sighed.

"Chiaki?" he said a moment later.

One of Nanami's eyes opened lazily. "What, Hajime?"

"What would we do if they try to kill you like they tried to kill Kirigiri-kun?" Hinata said.

"We get married anyway. The ceremony's just for show, we can put it off until the killers are caught," she replied. "Good night, Hajime. I love you."

"Yeah... I love you too." She drifted off to sleep as the usual bit of warmth flooded Hinata's heart, and before long he, too, fell asleep.

He was shaken awake by Nanami. "Hajime," she said, "Hajime, stop whimpering-"

"S-sorry, Chiaki," he replied, and he sat up. "What time is it?"

"Five in the morning. You woke me up. My hand's still sore." As if to prove it, she held up her right hand, though it really didn't look any different in Hinata's opinion.

"S-sorry, Chiaki," he said, feeling sheepish, and he laid back down. "When do you need to get to work?"

"A couple hours. You know that," Nanami replied, and she also laid back down and pressed herself against him. "Hajime, what was your dream about?"

Hinata told her about his dream- about watching her get shot and watching her die in the hospital. "It was so _real_, Chiaki, that's the worst part-" he said.

Nanami wrapped her arms around him. "Hajime, don't worry," she said.

"That's what Kirigiri-kun said!"

"Hajime, we'll be okay. The good guys win, remember? And we're part of the good guys," Nanami said. She appeared to go back to sleep, leaving Hinata to stew in his own thoughts again- considering how he would react. Would he really let her get shot? Would he let her take the blow for his choice of career, for being a "good guy"? Then Nanami sighed. "Hajime, just go to sleep. You're talking even less than usual," she griped.

"How can I just go to sleep-" she responded by kissing him, shutting him up.

"Go. To. Sleep." Hinata sighed again and followed his fiancée's bidding. Once again, he drifted off to sleep. And once again, his nightmare repeated itself.


	4. Ultimate Hope

**A/N: And now the plot really picks up. MAJOR spoilers for DR0 and DR2 inside; proceed with caution.**

* * *

"Now what?"

Nanami glanced at Hinata, annoyance written on her face. Once again, Mario fell in a pit- he'd been doing that a lot lately. "Only you have the power to mess up the Ultimate Gamer," she complained, and turned her attention back to the television. She'd moved the Wii U and its games to the TV room adjacent to Hinata's room; this was to avoid any possible bugs in her own room and meant that for the first time since he arrived Hinata and Nanami were sitting in close proximity to each other in a non-car setting.

It was the first Sunday since their last meeting with Komaeda, one that neither of them had mentioned since. "I mean it, Nanami-san," Hinata replied, "Masaru's out, and my boss doesn't have any assignments for me besides keeping an eye on him."

"Go visit Mikan, then," Nanami said. "Or anyone else from Hope's Peak."

"Do you even know where she lives?" Hinata countered. Nanami shrugged.

"All I know is that her shifts end at seven," Nanami replied. "Go talk to her then. Just let me concentrate."

"Right."

Three hours later, Hinata was waiting in yet another restaurant (one of Hanamura's) for Mikan Tsumiki. Unlike the black sheep restaurant, it was well-lit and catchy pop music was being broadcast through the restaurant, and most importantly the waiters and waitresses all had exposed faces; like the black sheep, it was crowded, filled with young people, and had plenty of heavenly-smelling food.

Tsumiki had already arranged for Hinata's table, and Hanamura had come off of work to sit and chat with Hinata while they waited for her. "So I heard you moved in with Nanami-san," Hanamura commented; he was sitting across from Hinata.

"Yeah, I did," Hinata replied. He looked around the restaurant again, hoping to see if Tsumiki was almost there.

"I'm surprised to hear that. Didn't think Nanami-san would be up to it," Hanamura said, and he glanced down at his cutlery. "I mean, after what happened..."

"After what happened?" Hinata said, arching an eyebrow at the chef.

Hanamura chuckled. "Do you really want to know?"

"I don't want to hurt her. Did I do something?"

Hanamura frowned. "I heard you were bad, but this clinches it," Hanamura said. Hinata blinked. "Of course you did something, you idiot! Do you know what Nanami-san did!?"

"It's not your secret to tell, is it?" Hinata said, though he had a sinking feeling in his chest. "It's hers. Let her tell me, not you."

"Hinata-kun, Hinata-kun, you really need to have more sense," Hanamura said. "You really need to know about what happened so you can avoid situations in the future, yes?"

Hinata stared at Hanamura. "You don't get it, do you?" he snapped, "it's not your right-"

"You caused her to end up in the hospital! You! Not me!" Hanamura snapped back. "Admit it, Hinata-kun!"

Hinata gaped at Hanamura. After a lengthy pause of almost a minute, Hinata finally said, "hospital?" People in the crowd didn't notice the argument.

Hanamura sank into his seat and smirked. "Yes, Hinata-kun, the hospital. Now, this is all hear-say, and I'm not gonna tell you who said it, but here's what happened: after you left, Nanami-san came down with some depression. You know, not unexpected, I heard her family had a history of depression or something, but over time she got better. But then, when she moved back into her apartment- after you left she was living with Koizumi-san- she tried to kill herself!"

"W...what?" Hinata whispered, sinking into his seat in horror. Kirigiri's warning from two weeks ago sprang to mind again.

"Yeah, that's what happened. I heard she got better over the last three years or so thanks to Ryouko Otonashi, aka the world's best psychiatrist nowadays, so..." Hanamura said. Hinata curled his hand into a fist. Hanamura was treating this all as _gossip_.

And then Tsumiki arrived. "Hi, Teru-kun, Hinata-kun," she said, and she sat next to Hanamura. She quickly kissed him on the cheek then turned her attention to Hinata. "You two getting along?"

Hinata sighed and leaned onto the table. "We've gotten along _wonderfully_," Hinata drawled. Hanamura smirked, while Tsumiki blinked.

"O-oh, I see!" she said, and she attempted to smile. "Teru-kun, what were you talking about?"

"We were discussin' Nanami-san's attempted suicide a couple of years ago," Hanamura said. He pulled a comb out and started combing his hair. "I don't think she told him about it."

Tsumiki frowned. "Hinata-kun," she lectured, her eyes narrowed, "it's not your place-"

"Tell that to your boyfriend," Hinata spat. Hanamura blinked and Tsumiki glanced at him. "Look, Tsumiki-san, can I ask you-"

"Well, look who it is!" someone interjected.

Hinata, Tsumiki, and Hanamura glanced up. A man with a not-fully-buttoned shirt, messy, medium-length black hair, and a loose tie stared down at them. "D-dr. Matsuda!" Tsumiki squeaked, "it's nice to see you here-"

"I always come here, every Tuesday," Matsuda replied. "Hello, Tsumiki-san, Hanamura-san, and... Kamukura-san, was it?"

Hanamura and Tsumiki both glanced at Hinata. "No, my name is Hajime Hinata," Hinata said, cautiously.

"Of course, of course!" Matsuda said, and he walked off, laughing.

"Who was that?" Hinata said, as soon as Matsuda fully vanished into the crowd.

"Dr. Yasuke Matsuda," Tsumiki said. "He's the world's best neurosurgeon."

"Ultimate Neurologist?" Hinata said. Hanamura and Tsumiki nodded.

"And don't tell anyone," Tsumiki said, leaning forward, and her eyes darted towards the crowd, "but he's high up in that terrorist group Komaeda-kun warned us about."

Hinata blinked. Again. Komaeda was warning people? "That and something 'bout 'hope powering through despair', but hey, who cares, right?" Hanamura said. He resumed combing his hair. "Now, Hinata-kun, you've gotta tell me and Mikan-chan about America, we're considering it for the honeymoon..."

* * *

The sun had set when Hinata arrived at Nanami's apartment. His conversation with Tsumiki and Hanamura had descended into hundreds of questions about California, most of which Hinata had been unable to answer due to his severe lack of sightseeing while in LA; if they were disappointed, they did not show it. For Hinata, though, two things were on his mind: Nanami's attempted suicide from three years ago, and Matsuda's comment.

Hinata could hear gunshots in the TV room, and assumed that Nanami was up playing video games again; his priority was packing up and leaving so that he wouldn't hurt her again, or trigger any memories or such other bad things that could happen. He opened the door to his room and, not even bothering to turn the light on, he reached under his bed and pulled out one of his suitcases. Then he began stuffing it with clothes.

The door creaked open, and the lights flicked on. "What do you think you're doing?" Nanami said flatly.

"Nanami-san, I'm leaving," Hinata said, not looking at her. "I have no right to be here, all I'll do is bring up bad memories, and, well..." He cut himself off, and kept packing.

Nanami walked up behind him and grabbed one of his arms with a tight grip. "You're not going anywhere," she stated. "If anything's going to bring up bad memories, it's you leaving again."

Hinata looked up at her. Her expression looked determined. "If you're worried about me," she said, and Hinata noticed that her voice was very... emotionless, slow, and focused, "then I'll have you know that Dr. Otonashi and Dr. Matsuda have already helped me through my... issues." She let go of him.

"How?" he said. From what Hinata knew of psychology, that should be impossible… or at least, very difficult.

Nanami shut the door and then sat down on Hinata's bed. "Hajime-kun," she said, "depression and despair are Dr. Otonashi's specialties. But if anything's going to remind me about _that_, it's you leaving me again."

"We're not together," Hinata said, but he dumped the clothes out of his suitcase and closed it with a _snap_.

"No," Nanami replied, and, looking into Hinata's eyes, she said, "but neither were we when you left. Listen, just humor me. Don't leave. It's dangerous for you, it's dangerous for me, and I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night panicking that you'd run off again like I already _have_. If it really happened, it'd be far worse."

And with those words, she left Hinata's room and shut the door with a sharp _click_. Hinata stared down at his suitcase and then stowed it away. He put his clothes back in the closet, and then left his room to watch Nanami play her shooting game.

Neither of them mentioned what happened in Hinata's room.

* * *

The next day, after a quick check on Masaru revealed that even Masaru's goons weren't lurking around as usual, Hinata left for KDL's offices and was ushered into Kirigiri's office. Unlike when he had first arrived, there were quite a few clients waiting to meet with her today; a reporter that he vaguely recognized from the news, a man wearing a US military uniform, a police inspector who looked bored to tears.

Every so often, a client would emerge from one of the offices and one of the Kirigiris would come out and wait for Maizono to quietly motion one of the waiting clients. It reminded Hinata of an American doctor's office. Eventually, an hour after he arrived, the police inspector left Kirigiri's room and Maizono motioned for Hinata to follow her into Kirigiri's office, where Kirigiri was typed on her computer.

"Hinata-san, Kirigiri-san," Maizono said, and she left Hinata standing in front of his boss's desk.

Kirigiri looked up from her computer and then closed it with a _click_. "Hinata-san, sit down," she ordered. Hinata obeyed. "You wanted to see me?"

"Sir, who is Yasuke Matsuda?" Hinata said.

Kirigiri looked at him, her fingers laced together, as if she were contemplating her next course of action. "Yasuke Matsuda," she said slowly, "was the 'Ultimate Neurologist' and renowned for his work involving memory."

"I know that, Kirigiri-san," Hinata said. "Is he the reason you couldn't let me go to the hospital?"

Kirigiri nodded after a moment. "He is indeed," she elaborated, "we also believe that he is one of the founders of Despair."

"Why?"

"He was a close friend of the currently missing Junko Enoshima, the founder of Despair," Kirigiri said. "But, that has very little to do with your assignment. I doubt that even with Masaru's funding Matsuda would go to his apartment."

"Ah, no, I met him in a restaurant while meeting with two old friends from Hope's Peak, Teruteru Hanamura and Mikan Tsumiki," Hinata explained. Kirigiri's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "And when we met, he called me Izuru Kamukura..." Kirigiri's eyes widened by a much larger margin.

"So, he called you Izuru Kamukura," she said, and she leaned back in her chair and put one hand up to her mouth. "Izuru Kamukura... I haven't heard that name in so long," she mumbled.

"When was the last time?"

Kirigiri's hand moved away from her mouth and began drumming on the desk. "It was... seven years ago. I was only in my third year there, and I had a meeting with my father- I don't remember what it was about, he was probably going to chew me out after he found out I'd spent the night in Makoto's room or something- but just as I arrived, he left the room, muttering something about an operation."

Hinata nodded. He remembered what Kirigiri was referring to- seven years ago, he had been in an accident of some sort, and when he'd woken up in the hospital, the headmaster, Jin Kirigiri, was there to greet him. It had happened shortly after his parents and sister died in a car crash, and according to the doctors, the stress of the operation and accident combined with the death of his family had induced some memory loss.

However, that had all been a long time ago; Hinata barely thought about it anymore.

"Done thinking, Hinata-san?" Hinata nodded. Kirigiri resumed, "I noticed that'd he'd left a folder on the desk and, cautiously, I read its label- 'Ultimate Hope'. Underneath it was a name, Izuru Kamukura. Then my father arrived, grabbed the folder, and left," Kirigiri said. "Afterwards, I looked up who Kamukura was. He was the founder of the school who served with distinction in both world wars, wrote extensive books of both fiction and nonfiction, was an accomplished poet and a consummate painter, and an expert at sculpting with works of art in museums from Paris and London to New York and Tokyo."

"When did he die?" Hinata said.

"1959, after serving the American government for a little over a decade," Kirigiri said. "He also remained a very influential figure, and yet served as the headmaster for the entire modern history of Hope's Peak up to that point, along with hand-picking his successor, even though he could've retired around the time World War II began."

"But what's this about Ultimate Hope-"

"That's the question, isn't it?" Kirigiri said, and she resumed her earlier thinking position. "I think we might have to visit my father, then. Go get Makoto, he should be out of his meetings now, while I assign another agent to watch Masaru's camera for today."

"Yes, sir." Hinata stood up from his seat and exited Kirigiri's room.

* * *

The only difference between the Hope's Peak of the 78th class and the Hope's Peak of the 87th class was the elevator. The students were as... _diligent_ as ever, all sitting around or standing around and talking or texting or following their own pursuits. Few and far between was the student actually studying, though to be fair, it was only the third week of September.

Hinata and the Kirigiris were now standing in front of the headmaster's office. Both Hinata and Makoto Kirigiri stood behind Kyouko Kirigiri, staring expectantly at her- after all, she was the headmaster's daughter, not either of them. Or at least, that's what Hinata assumed Makoto was thinking- he _was _the son-in-law, so...

"Alright," Kyouko said, speaking up for the first time since arriving (Hinata and Makoto had kept up a running commentary through the halls), "Makoto, you knock on the door and speak with... _him_."

"Come on, Kyouko," Makoto pleaded, "you were talking to him just two weeks ago-"

"For five minutes," Kyouko said. "Please, Makoto. You know I don't like talking to him." Makoto sighed, and at seeing his face, Kyouko warned, "And if you keep that up you'll be sleeping on the couch."

Hinata shook his head, embarrassed at his boss's reaction, and she snapped, "And if you keep _that _up, Hinata-san, then I'm going to dock your pay."

"That's illegal, Kirigiri-san," he replied, but Kyouko ignored him and watched as Makoto knocked on the door three times.

They heard a shuffling sound and then the door opened. An average-sized man with wire glasses, graying hair, and a lined face greeted. His eyes swept the group, then his face lit up. "Kyouko-san! Makoto-san! Dropping in so unexpectedly for once-" he exclaimed.

"Hello, Kirigiri-san," Makoto replied, and he bowed. Hinata copied the gesture, and Jin Kirigiri bowed back. Kyouko, in contrast, remained rooted to the spot.

"And, you are- Hajime Hinata, I remember now, from the wedding, such terrible business," Jin said, turning to Hinata, "and from your time at school too, naturally-"

"Actually, father," Kyouko said through grit teeth, "I just wanted to ask you about something. Something important. For _work_."

If this was supposed to lower Jin's spirits, it did not work. Beaming, he ushered them all into his office and then shut the door. "So, how're my grandkids?"

"We've only had one kid, father," Kyouko said. "And until this little business is cleared up, I doubt Makoto and I will be having any more."

"I know, I know," Jin said. "So, Kyouko-san, Makoto-san, Hinata-san, please take a seat, take a seat-" he said, and he gestured to some chairs in front of his desk. "So, this is about that Despair business, eh?"

"You know?" Makoto said, obviously surprised.

"Yes, I was told by Ikusaba-san," Jin said.

"And where is she now?" Makoto added. Jin shrugged.

"It was just a phone call, she said I could even tell anyone from KDL, wouldn't make a difference," Jin said. "I don't understand it- you guys have police powers but-"

"We don't have the ability to try people or prosecute the state's cases," Kyouko replied, "and Gundam Tanaka's trial showed that even a low-level member of Despair was still almost impossible to convict even on an obvious crime. For some reason, Despair has the prosecutors in their pocket."

"Ah," was Jin's only reply. "So, then, what did you really want to talk to me about?"

"Izuru Kamukura," Kyouko replied.

Jin's eyes darted to Hinata and then refocused on his daughter. He was also noticeably paler. "This... is not the place to talk about that," Jin said. His eyes then twitched towards a stuffed, half-black, half-white teddy bear sitting in a corner, and then back to his daughter. "It was a failure. That's all you need to know."

"Ah," Kyouko said, and she stood up. "Well then, I guess we'll be going now-"

"No, no," Jin said, "please, ah, Hinata-san, tell me about your classmates, I haven't heard from them in ages, oh, and Makoto-san, tell me about Saya-chan-"

"Sure," Makoto said, and he pulled his wallet out. Kyouko sighed and sat down again- Hinata knew from experience, back when he was investigating Athens and Sparta, that once Makoto got started on his daughter he didn't stop.

* * *

"So, in summary," Hinata said as they left Hope's Peak, "we learned nothing."

"No, we learned about what's going on in Hope's Peak right now, what the Headmaster- er, my father-in-law- is getting for Saya-chan's birthday and Christmas, and when he'll be visiting next," Makoto said.

"And we also learned everything we needed to, too," Kyouko added. Both Makoto and Hinata stopped and stared at her. She turned around- they were now right outside the gate- and she said, "it was in his eyes. When I asked him about Kamukura-"

"They darted towards me," Hinata said.

"Right," Kyouko replied, "_you _are Izuru Kamukura. Ultimate Hope. The only hard part is- what does that even mean?" She resumed walking. "Of course, if Kamukura is a split personality or something, it hasn't manifested. And it won't interfere in your job either, of course, so you can return to work tomorrow."

"Then what about that teddy bear?" Makoto said. "The half-white, half-black one?"

"I've seen those colors before, actually," Hinata said. This time, Kyouko stopped and wheeled about to face him; Makoto simply turned to face him. "At one of Chef Hanamura's restaurants, one Komaeda brought me to twice. And Sonia Nevermind was wearing one of those masks too."

"Meaning that there's a good chance that it has a connection to Despair," Makoto surmised. "Well then, I guess that means your dad's been bugged, Kyouko?"

"So it seems, and not just him," Kyouko said ominously. Once again, the three resumed walking, albeit in silence. Then, as they reached the parking garage, Kyouko said, "I will look into this Kamukura business on my own. Hinata-san, just go back to work, Makoto, you just work too. I'll have this cleared up in no time."

"Are you sure, Kirigiri-san?" Hinata said.

"I don't want to see you get hurt," Makoto added in a small voice.

In a rare display of affection (for Hinata, anyway- she was plenty affectionate with her husband), Kyouko turned around, smiled, and put her gloved hands on Hinata and Makoto's shoulders, stopping them from walking, and said, "Don't worry, Makoto, Hinata-san. Things will turn out well."

* * *

**A/N: Before you ask, yes, I'm doing my research, and yes, Hinata is screwed-up himself, something that should become obvious in later chapters. But, if you have any questions, ask away!**


	5. The Friends' Outing

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I can only hope that the story remains interesting- I'm doing my best to twist the plot, but hopefully some are obvious to the reader even if they're not obvious to Hinata himself. **

* * *

Hinata was already in the TV room when Nanami returned home. "Oh, hi Hajime-kun," was her only greeting, and she sounded very... drained. She yawned. "'had a hard day at work, don't suppose we could just order something?"

"Uh, sure," Hinata said. He watched her troop into the room and sit next to him. "So, uh... pizza?"

"I don't care," was her response.

Hinata left the room to go get his phone- it was charging in the kitchen- and when he returned from ordering, Nanami was already playing one of her games. He chuckled to himself and said, "All play and no work's going to be bad for your health, Nanami-san."

"Yes, Okaru-sensei," Nanami said, and she snorted. "Old bat, I was Ultimate _Gamer_, what did she expect me to do?"

Hinata shrugged- a futile gesture as Nanami was now focused on her game- and sat down next to her again. "So," he said, eyeing the latest shooting game, "you gonna let me play?"

"Sure," she said, and she handed him a controller. "Do you even know anything about FPS's?"

"Uh... no."

"Then why do you play them?"

"Because, because I..." Hinata was at a loss for words, and he put the controller down. "Call me when the food arrives, I'll be in the shower," he said, and he stood up to leave.

He was at the door to the hallway when Nanami said, "Hajime-kun, wait!" He turned around- she'd put the controller down too. She stood up. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"Like what?" Hinata said. "I can tell when you want to be by yourself. I lived with you for a year, I should know." Then he left the room.

While in the shower, though, he stewed in guilt. He had no right to snap back at her question, but to tell the truth he couldn't say why he wanted to play. Maybe it was just because he wanted to spend time with her, but he couldn't admit that- their relationship had "reset", after all.

When he left the shower, Nanami had taped a note to the adjoining bathroom's mirror- "I want to talk to you, pizza's here". Hinata left the bathroom into the hallway and found her in the TV room. The game was off, replaced with the news. "Sorry for overreacting," Hinata said as he joined Nanami on the couch.

Nanami sighed. "Look, Hajime-kun, it was a long day at work, I'm sure you've had a hard day too working for KDL, so I apologize for offending you," she said. "If you just wanted to play a game with me, you know, apartment mate to apartment mate, friend to friend, then just say so."

Hinata said nothing, only picking up a piece of pizza.

"But I'm not going to say that I'm also, ah, not to blame," Nanami said. "We've been avoiding each other, I think- usually, we'll just come home, say hello, then exit to our own rooms, yes?"

"Yes."

"So, let's see if we can break down that little barrier we've put up," she concluded, "tomorrow's Saturday, and there's a new movie I want to see. You're going to take me there. And we'll stop for dinner too."

"A date?" Hinata said quietly. Nanami nodded. "You know, I do have a job-"

"And clearly, Kirigiri-san doesn't care that you stop observing him at night."

"That's what the camera's for," Hinata said irritably. Nanami blinked. "In any case, I really don't think-"

"Listen, Hajime-kun," Nanami said, "we clearly need to get more comfortable around each other, and since I doubt you want to visit Dr. Otonashi, we're going to have to try and fix this our own way. Got it?"

Hinata stared at her, and she stared back. That look of determination was back again. "Fine," he said, finally, "but if something happens with Masaru, then you're answering to my boss."

"I thought you had a camera for that?" Nanami replied.

"It's only on after I leave-"

"Then we'll leave in the evening, when you're done with work," Nanami said, "although I was under the impression that you have weekends off, so..."

Hinata sighed, again, and slumped. She was right- another detective took over the weekend work, some other detective that the Kirigiris knew. "Fine," he said, again, "I'll go. I'll even dress up nice if you want."

"It's just an outing for friends," Nanami said. "Got it? Good."

And then she handed him the second controller and switched the TV back to their game.

* * *

Hinata was laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He could not hear the sound of video games through the wall- Nanami was asleep. He could feel his stomach fluttering from his date- sorry, "friends' outing"- coming up. He sighed. Again. He was doing that a lot tonight.

It wasn't that he was afraid- okay, he was. He was very afraid. Hinata knew that Nanami'd moved on. But he? He had not. And he knew that she, Komaeda, and Sonia knew that too.

And that got him thinking about the other mysteries, those of Despair. He was Izuru Kamukura, but what did that even mean? Furthermore, Komaeda had hinted at a game of some sort. And furthermore-

Hinata's thoughts were interrupted when his phone started buzzing. He picked it up. "Hajime Hinata."

"Hello, Hajime," replied Komaeda. "I heard from a little Monobear that you visited the headmaster today. Can I ask why?"

"No," Hinata said back, "no you can not."

Komaeda sighed. "Oh well," he said, "so long as you remember that you're the hope that will overcome despair, we'll be fine! Good night, Hajime."

And the phone clicked off. Hinata tossed the phone on the bedside table and then resumed staring at the ceiling. Slowly, he drifted off into sleep.

* * *

"Brave Soldier of KDL..." Nanami looked up at him. "Hajime, you think they're going to go after you next?"

They were both sitting at the kitchen table, a rickety little thing, in their apartment's kitchen. The time on the oven blinked 6:14 in bright red; Hinata had woken Nanami up, long before she normally would on a Sunday, so that she could see the text. "Hajime..." she whispered.

Hinata refocused. "Chiaki," he said, "don't worry- don't worry, like Kirigiri-san told us not to worry..." And his recurring nightmare replayed in his mind: Nanami, in a wedding dress, collapsing from the sudden bullet to her belly. "Don't... don't..." he trailed off.

Nanami shook him. "C'mon, Hajime, we need to consider how we'll treat this!" she said. "Are you just going to let despair win?" she said.

"It's gonna be all right," Hinata lied. "I'll go talk to my boss, we'll work something out, I know it..."

Nanami smiled at him and then sat up. "Alright," she said, "well, I'm going to go take a shower. You're welcome to join me, but make sure you call Kirigiri-san first." She left the room, leaving Hinata at the table, watching her leave, his eyes focused on her engagement ring.

He heard the shower turn on, the water flowing through the pipes, but still he waited at the table. At long last, he turned his attention to the phone and forwarded the text to Kirigiri. Then he added a second message- "I just got this"- and, slowly, left to join Nanami.

Their time in the shower was long and steamy, as usual... they really needed to get that shower-head looked at some time, too. Regrettably, at some point in the shower Hinata had carelessly spilled what was left of the women's shampoo on the floor, and Nanami had volunteered to go and get some more, along with the week's groceries. It was, after all, her turn.

Hinata kissed her goodbye and then set to his task. He pulled out a suitcase and filled it with as many of his clothes as he could while still leaving enough to appear normal, and then packed up his computer and whatever else he knew he had to bring with him, and, after a moment's hesitation, he packed up the DS Nanami had given him for his birthday two years ago. Then he packed up his spare toiletries, so as not to betray his intentions, and stored it all in the little closet in the hallway where the coats were stored, someplace he knew Nanami wouldn't look because of it being summertime.

And then Nanami returned home, talking excitedly of her and Koizumi's plans for the wedding. "Hopefully, dad will be out of the hospital in time for the wedding, but you know, like you said, we can just push it back," Nanami said while she and Hinata put the groceries away. "What do you think, honey?"

Hinata, who was busy thinking of the best time to leave, blinked. "Er, what, Chiaki?"

"I said, when should we push back the wedding to?" Nanami said, with a certain, bizarre cheerfulness. "Obviously, it can't be _too _far back, the doctors said they don't know when dad will have another heart attack, but it shouldn't be too long before Kirigiri-san and Ishimaru-san catch the people who shot Naegi-kun, sorry, Kirigiri-kun..." Her voice wavered as she noticed that Hinata was not paying attention. "Hajime? Hajime, please, talk to me..."

Hinata realized that Nanami's cheerfulness was all just an act; she was probably as scared as he was. "Sorry, Chiaki," he said, and he shut the refrigerator door. "I'm just... I'm just going to go lie down."

He threw himself onto their bed and thought about calling Komaeda for advice, thought about calling Komaeda so that he could talk Hinata out of his terrible plan. Every second with Nanami was becoming poison now, because every second was another reason for a bullet to come through the window and kill her.

The door to the room opened, but the lights did not flicker on. "Want to play?" Nanami said, sitting on the end of the bed, a remote in her hand. "A...anything?"

Hinata looked back up at the ceiling and said, "no."

"C'mon, Hajime," Nanami said, and she grabbed his arm, "c'mon, don't act like this, it'll be okay..."

"Chiaki, you're lying."

"I... yes, I'm lying, happy?" Nanami shot back. "But you are too, I'm just repeating what you said!"

Hinata sat up. "Chiaki," he said, "maybe we should just, just- call of the wedding." The words slipped out of him, and as soon as they did Nanami's face fell.

"No..." she whispered, and she grabbed him and hugged him savagely. "No! No! How can you- how can they- why would you-!?" And she started sobbing. "Not you too-"

Hinata did his best to comfort his fiancée, but he found that his mouth was too dry to speak. "Please talk to me," Nanami said through her tears, "please talk to me, the doctors told me dad doesn't have long to live, you're all I'll have left-" She was cut off as the crying became louder.

"Please talk to me- please..."

* * *

"So, ready to go?" Nanami said the next day. She was staring down at her fingernails, pointedly not looking Hinata in the eye, and she was dressed in jeans and a hoodie, much like she had at school all those years ago. As for Hinata, he'd just gone with a white shirt, tie, and slacks, much like _his _school days.

"Um, sure," Hinata said, and off they went. They arrived at the restaurant a short time later, and before long their discussion turned to work.

"So basically," Nanami was saying as she speared her food on a fork, "we're working on making a bipedal robot that can walk on its own-"

"Didn't the school have one of those?" Hinata asked. Nanami nodded.

"More advanced than those," she said, "it's hard to explain to a layman, but basically the school robots had some issues with their model, you know, like that one time when you threw a robot at Komaeda and it broke because of the vibrations."

"Oh, yeah," Hinata said.

"I mean, if you were to use those robots, you'd have to cover them with a whole bunch of shock-absorbent material, and even then the inner workings were very sensitive, so you'd probably still break it regardless," Nanami continued. She put her fork and food down, wiped her hands, and pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper from her purse. Then she drew a little diagram of the school's robots- short, bipedal devices made by the "Ultimate Roboticist" over a decade ago- and circled their heads. "See, this is where the main problem was, some very fragile connections. I mean, you might as well just attach a motion-sensitive bomb to the insides so that the robot would still be _useful_ after you broke it."

"And that's what you're working on fixing?" Hinata said carefully.

Nanami nodded. Then she elaborated, "basically, we're trying to make it so that you can throw the robot around all you want and have it still work, as well as carry heavy loads while still moving as fast as the school's model could, you know, for military work."

"Then shouldn't you not be telling me this?" Hinata said.

"Well, no, but I doubt you could do anything about the design any more than I could interfere with your investigations," Nanami said, "and it's not like I'm working hands-on with it either."

"Well," Hinata said, "Nanami-san, what do you know about Izuru Kamukura?"

The effect was immediate: Nanami's eyes widened slightly and she dropped her pen. "I-I, um, I've, uh, never heard of him," she said, although she did not look Hinata in the eye.

"Please don't lie to me, Nanami-san," Hinata said, leaning forward. "Where've you heard about him?"

Nanami visibly swallowed. "That's not- that's not important," she said. "Listen, Hajime, don't look into that, please. It'll just- we'll just- I'm changing the subject!" She picked her pen up and looked back into his eyes. "So, um, the movie, do you think-"

"Nanami-san, why are you so... scared?" Hinata said. He could feel himself starting to sweat as her eyes darted away from his again. Clearly, she knew something. "Nanami-san?"

"Listen, Hajime-kun," Nanami said, "it was- after you left me, three years ago. I had an appointment with Dr. Otonashi, and she was talking to Dr. Matsuda about an Izuru Kamukura. Said he'd run off to Osaka. But- but that's it."

Hinata didn't believe he had the full truth, but he sighed and let it go. "So, then, Nanami-san, what movie are we actually going to see?" Nanami's face slipped into relief.

"Oh," she said, "it's a nice little movie about-"

"Ah, janitor-san and four-san, how nice to see you two here today! Out on a romantic evening perhaps?"

Hinata and Nanami glanced up to see Ryotsa Masaru, impeccably dressed, with a pretty brown-haired woman wearing an expensive-looking gown at his side, a woman Hinata had seen leave Masaru's apartment once or twice. The woman's eyes went between Nanami and Hinata and then glanced away. "You must forgive my wife," Masaru said, gesturing to her, "I'm afraid she doesn't like to speak in public. So, out on a date, eh? Didn't know you had it in you, janitor-san."

"We're not on-" Hinata began protesting.

He was cut off by Nanami, who said, "and so what if we are, Masaru-san? Am I not allowed to do something without your orders?"

"Of course not, of course not," Masaru said, "I just noticed that you two were over here and realized that we wanted to invite janitor-san here to dinner one night at our place." Hinata blinked, and felt cold sweat forming: Masaru was going to kill him, throw him in Tokyo Bay and he would be _dead_ and-

"Listen, think about it, will you?" Masaru said, "And don't worry, I believe in proper hospitality. You can even bring your gun if you want!" Then he walked off, laughing, trailed by his wife, who sent one last glance at Hinata and Nanami before leaving.

"I didn't know he was married," Hinata said, "I just thought she was his girlfriend."

"Maybe she only left during camera hours," Nanami said. "But I know Masaru-san a little, and I know that he actually got married while at Hope's Peak, the first person since Nakejawa-san."

"Nakejawa-san was married at Hope's Peak?"

"Yeah, but they had a messy divorce and then his ex-wife's mysterious death sank his political career," Nanami said, and she trailed off as she watched the Masarus enter a private booth, one much like the one Komaeda had brought Hinata to. She turned back to Hinata. "Sorry, it's just- oh, nevermind, let me finish my dinner and then we'll go, I think the movie will be starting soon." Hinata checked his phone- 18:30, the movie started in half an hour- and nodded.

And thus the first half of their 'date' was over. As for the movie, the two did not speak during it, although (seeing as it was a horror movie of some sort) by the end of the movie Hinata was gripping Nanami's hand tightly to try and calm himself down. And once the movie was over, he did not let go either, mostly because he had been holding her hand for the last hour or so.

"Uh, Hajime, Hajime-kun," Nanami said as they left the theater, "my hand?"

"Ah! Sorry," Hinata said, and he could feel himself turning red, and he could see that she was blushing too. He let go. "Sorry, Nanami-san, it's just that, you know, well, um..."

"Scary, huh?" Nanami said, and together the two walked towards the parking garage, "by the way, Hajime-kun, you look like a tomato."

"Yeah, well... so do you!" Hinata said, as if he was a juvenile. "You're as red as... as red as Koizumi-san's hair!"

"I am not," Nanami huffed, "her hair was colored like bricks." They passed in front of a glass display (the theater was part of a shopping complex), and they both stared: both Hinata and Nanami were still light red. Then they turned and stared at each other, and then began laughing.

It was inexplicable, really: Hinata did not know what was so funny. Maybe it was because their behavior came right out of a school instead of reflecting their adulthood. Maybe it was because slightly-red faces _were _funny. And maybe it was just as random as one of the fortunes of the world-famous Yasuhiro Hagakure.

But in any case, Hinata could feel some of the tension, some of the awkward tension, evaporating. At last, their laughing receded: Nanami kept giggling and Hinata kept chuckling, but on the whole they were done and they resumed going towards the car, ignoring the staring of the shoppers and workers.

"So, uh, Nanami-san, can you forgive me for walking away?" Hinata said as he walked at her side.

"Never," she said, yet she still smiled. "I'll hold it over you until your dying day."

"Oh. Um, well then, should I thank Dr. Otonashi for not, uh, 'triggering' any bad memories by saying that?" Hinata said.

"You should, the woman's gotta be a witch with her abilities," Nanami said, "but you know what? Let's put that behind us, you know, a... proper 'reset'". She stopped, and Hinata stopped. Then she turned around and held her outstretched hand to Hinata. "Hello," she said briskly, "my name's Chiaki Nanami. Call me Chiaki."

Hinata smiled and took her hand. "My name's Hajime Hinata," he said, "but just call me Hajime, Chiaki-san."

"It's nice to meet you, Hajime-kun," Nanami said, and they shook. She smiled too.

Then they resumed walking towards her car; for the first time in years, Hinata felt content.

* * *

**A/N: I hope the final scene wasn't too banal, but it's important. Okay, everything's important (or at least, I try to make it so), and by this point I think I only really have one or two more important characters to introduce, and one of them's mentioned in this chapter. ****I hope I'm also making past!Hinata and past!Nanami distinctive from present!Hinata and present!Nanami- they're supposed to be. **

******As always, review if you have any questions or comments!**


	6. Black-and-White

**A/N: Sorry, but no bonding time in this chapter. Special thanks to ? for reviewing! This chapter: can you smell the conspiracy?**

* * *

"Izuru Kamukura, Izuru Kamukura," Kyouko Kirigiri said to herself as she flipped through her files. "What is Izuru Kamukura?"

It was Sunday night, September the 15th, and the lights of Tokyo had lit up the night once more. The screech of cars and the hubbub of tourists was still discernible even on the 38th floor.

The door to her office opened and in walked her husband, Makoto. Kyouko glanced up and saw that he was holding their less-than-a-year-old daughter, Sayako; she smiled at them.

"So," Makoto said, and he carried Sayako over to her mother, "how goes mommy's search?" He adjusted Sayako slightly so that she could look at her mother with vague disinterest. "Do you want to go home now, Kyouko?" he added.

Kyouko turned towards her files, looked at her family, and then back at the files. Then she stood up and kicked the file cabinet closed. "I have nothing on Kamukura," she said, "so it looks like a visit to Togami-kun is in order."

She turned the lights off and closed the door as she left. Maizono's weekend secretary replacement was in, and she was leaning on her desk and chewing gum; the evening detectives had already arrived too and were shuffling into work, nodding to their bosses as they went.

"Kirigiri-san."

Kyouko turned slightly to see, no doubt to her surprise, Nibashi Hayao, the chief of her forensics department and now a gruff, no-nonsense man, a far cry from his early days with the company. "I have something to report," he said, saluting.

"What is it?" Kyouko said. Hayao glanced between Makoto and Kyouko.

"Sir," he said, "the boys have sent me their report on our little investigation into the river car case. I thought you might want to know, inform certain members of the company."

"Well, the results?" Kyouko said.

"Based on dental match-ups, the woman is, at least, a certain Miwako Hinata, mother of Hajime Hinata," Hayao reported. He pulled out his phone, glanced at the readout, then stowed it away again. "We also believe that the man in the car with her is her husband, Takeshi Hinata."

"I see," Kyouko said, "I'll be sure to inform him, although considering how long ago the crash was-"

"Yes, sir, almost eight years is a long time," Hayao said. "However, we have found something puzzling, or rather, two somethings: one is the nature of the car crash, the second is that we're missing someone."

"What's wrong with the car crash?" Makoto said, and he shifted Sayako again.

"We found the wreckage of the other car with the Hinata's car, sir," Hayao replied, "it has Hope's Peak Academy's crest on the back half, yet the front half is missing. And the metal is twisted as if it were in an explosion. In other words, it appears that the front half of the car exploded."

Makoto's eyes widened; Kyouko remained stoic. "And the second problem?" she said.

"At the time, it was reported that a twelve-year-old girl went missing too, sir," Hayao said. "Hinata-san's sister. However, her body was not in the wreckage."

"We already knew about that, Hayao-san. She has already been accounted for," Kirigiri said. Hayao opened his mouth as if to say something, and then closed it again. "And why were these wrecks not discovered until last year?" Kyouko added. At this, Hayao shrugged. Kyouko sighed. "Very well. Thank you, Hayao-san."

"Alright. Good night, sir, I'll call and inform Hinata-san tomorrow," Hayao said.

"No," Makoto said, "I'll tell him. Alright, coming, Kyouko?" She took his hand and they entered the elevator, leaving Hayao to check his phone again. "I already put Saya-chan's things in the car," he said. Kyouko nodded. "How do you think Hinata-san will...?"

"I think he'll take it fine," Kyouko said. "But, I think this might also have something to do with Kamukura." They arrived at the car and she got behind the wheel while Makoto buckled in Sayako. Then he joined Kyouko in the front.

They drove home in silence and by the time they arrived home, Sayako was asleep, something that Kyouko was probably profoundly thankful for. While she loved her daughter, she likely also loved her nerves.

They pulled into the driveway at their house (which, by American standards, would be small, but hey, it's suburban Tokyo) and Makoto brought Sayako inside and put her in her bed. Kyouko, meanwhile, went to their bedroom and pulled out her computer, typed out an e-mail to Togami- "Meet me. We need to discuss something", or something like that- and sent it. Then she closed it.

Their bedroom was rather large, with a dresser, a TV on top of it, and a king-size bed with flanking bedside tables, and three doors: one going into the bathroom, one into the hallway, and one into a closet. The windows were covered with drapes, and the walls were a bland, tan color covered with pictures of Makoto's family, their school days, Sayako, and the Kirigiris with their friends. After all, most of Kyouko's money, and Makoto's money, went into the company and Sayako, not to mention daily bills and the like, leaving very little for interior decoration. Perhaps the sole non-picture decoration was a little black-and-white teddie bear sitting on top of the TV; its companions lived in Sayako's room and the car, all gifts from… Chihiro Fujisaki.

The door to the room opened and Makoto entered. He looked... worried. "You still concerned about Hinata-san?" Kyouko said, looking at her husband.

Makoto sighed and sat next to Kyouko. "Well, you know, I just think that I'd be really choked up to find out about my family being found after eight years," he said. Kyouko put her arm around his shoulder and then leaned on him. "I mean, you know, my parents-"

"I know, Makoto," Kyouko replied. "I don't know about my father, though, I mean, after he ran away..."

"I've heard about that plenty of times," Makoto said. "You _would _care about them, Kyouko, I know you would-"

"Just drop the subject, Makoto."

"Yes dear."

They sat in silence again, but that gradually dissipated as Makoto reciprocated Kyouko's earlier move. "Think... think we should get in bed?" Makoto said softly. "Or, are you feeling-"

Kyouko glanced down at her gloved hands. "...maybe later. For now, let's just get ready for bed." She stood up and entered the bathroom, trailed by her husband, and the world went black.

* * *

Hinata awoke from his very odd dream and noticed that a set of black cords were strapped to his eyelids and stuck in his ears. "What's- who- what's going on!" he sputtered.

In the darkness, Komaeda leaned forward, a laptop on his knees. "Shh," he said, "Nanami-san's asleep. You don't want to wake her up, do you?" He smiled. "I heard you guys have started patching things up too. Good job."

"Um, thanks?" Hinata said. Komaeda reached forward and began pulling cords off of Hinata's head. "What were... what were you doing?" he said. He could feel his eyes drooping despite his curiosity.

Komaeda smiled again, and Hinata vaguely wondered why Komaeda kept doing that. "Hajime, I just wanted to give you prior warning," Komaeda said. "It's just a little something one of my bosses cooked up. Lets you, ah, visualize your surroundings via our unpatented Monoscope."

"And why were you doing that?" Hinata moaned: what he really wanted to do was return to blissful sleep.

"I thought you might want to know the breadth of Despair," Komaeda said. "I mean, and tell you about your boss's progress with Kamukura and your parents' bodies being discovered too." Komaeda turned to the computer and clicked a button. "I doubt you want to see or hear your boss having sex either, do you."

"No, definitely not," Hinata said. "Komaeda, just- get out. What time is it?"

"Three in the morning," Komaeda said. "Good night- consider this our warning." And then Komaeda picked up the computer and disappeared as suddenly as he appeared. Hinata put his head on his pillow and decided to call Kirigiri and inform her about Komaeda's intrusion tomorrow.

He yawned and drifted to sleep again.

* * *

"Hajime-kun, wake up."

Someone, or rather, Nanami, shook Hinata awake. "Come on, come on," she groaned, "I need to get going soon, Hajime-kun. Don't you have an alarm clock?"

Hinata groaned and sat up. "G'morning, Chiaki-san," he mumbled. Nanami opened up the window drapes, letting the first glimpses of sunlight into his room.

"Were you up until three or something?" she said, wheeling around and imitating her friend Koizumi's "lecture" pose: hands on her hips and leaned forwards. A flowery smell told Hinata that she'd showered recently. "Well?"

"No, I, uh-" Hinata got out of his bed and stood in front of Nanami, who straightened again. "If you'll believe me, I had another visit from Komaeda."

"Impossible, the door's still locked and your wood block's... in..." she trailed off as both she and Hinata stared at the little wood block on Hinata's bedside table sitting behind the switched-off alarm clock; a quick check confirmed that Hinata's door was now free to slide. "Did you-?"

"No," Hinata said, "maybe I removed it yesterday while cleaning or something, and Komaeda's luck meant that he came and visited on the one day the door could be slid open."

"Yeah, maybe," she said. She grabbed the block and returned it to its groove. "In any case, I thought it was odd that you weren't up yet, but I have some places to stop before I get to work, so, bye." And she was off.

Hinata watched her go and then stared off into the rising sun. He had to move, fast- the night shift agent left at five, and according to his clock, it was already 5:29. He rushed to his closet and began pulling off his bed-clothes to replace with his janitor disguise, hid his gun and taser in their usual concealed pockets, put his police-and-Diet-approved gun license in his wallet, and pulled his iPhone out of the grasp of a little black-and-white bear doll on his bedside table.

The first thing he did was call Kirigiri and inform her about Komaeda's early-morning visit as well as the strange dream; like Kirigiri predicted, Hinata was not overly shocked at the fate of his parents, seeing as he had come to terms with their disappearance a long time ago and had always thought they were dead, and as such, preferred not to think about them.

"And your sister?" Kirigiri said, "What about her?"

"If she's gone, she's gone," Hinata said, "and there's nothing I can do. I'm glad she's not dead, but for now I'll just focus on work." He terminated his call and stepped out of the elevator to begin cleaning Masaru's floor, but as usual the people going in and out of the apartment consisted of Athens, Sparta, and Masaru's wife. Masaru himself was nowhere to be seen: he must've left while the camera was on duty or still be in his apartment.

Part of Hinata wished that he could be doing more... glamorous work, or at least more exciting work. When he first joined, before the whole wedding debacle, he investigated corrupt politicians and stopped corporate espionage; now, he was stuck by an elevator in a fancy apartment complex watching the comings-and-goings of one man that he reported to his boss every night. He knew that other divisions were doing equally glamorous work when it came to watching men like Masaru: the people picking through the trash or monitoring his legal trail, but they were paid to do that. _He _was an executive, for crying out loud!

And then, while he was berating himself mentally for having the entitlement of Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, the elevator _ding_ed open and Masaru's wife walked over to Hinata. "Janitor-san?" she said, her voice light, "you are coming for dinner tomorrow, yes?"

"Um, who are you, ma'am?" Hinata said.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Minako Masaru," she said, "Mina for short. And you- your real name?"

"That's not important," Hinata grunted. Mina sighed and began tapping her foot.

"Listen, Hinata-san," she said, "it wouldn't be smart to reject our invitations." She glared at him, although Hinata was not shocked to learn that she knew who he was considering yesterday. "So then," she said, and she gave him a very toothy smile, "what would you like for dinner?"

"Uh... steak?"

"Fine, western food, of course," she said, "I'll need to run out and get some, and I'm not even sure Ryo knows how to cook it..." She walked off, talking to herself, and entered her apartment.

He frowned. She seemed familiar, somehow, as if she were a distant memory. It was not until his shift was done and the camera surveillance began that he realized _why _she was familiar: with a jolt, Hinata realized that Minako was his sister's name.

"You'd think you'd remember your own sister's name," Nanami observed that night, while they were both cooking.

Hinata shrugged. "Whatever I was hospitalized for in second year really screwed with my memory," he said, "remember how I thought your name was Tiki for a couple of months?"

"Unfortunately," Nanami said. "Still, you should probably go see Dr. Otonashi or Dr. Matsuda over forgetting something that important. It almost seems as if you have... no emotional attachment to her or something."

"Well, that went with the hospitalization too, I guess," Hinata said. He turned back to the frying pan. "Pass the salt, please."

Over dinner, he could tell that Nanami was still unnerved by his lack of care towards his sister, but to him, Minako had exited his life a long time ago and there was certainly no guarantee that Minako Hinata and Minako Masaru were the same person. Of course, besides her name, Minako Masaru also looked somewhat like Hinata's sister and sounded like her from what he could remember, but on the whole it wasn't exactly ironclad fact that they were the same person.

"So," Nanami said, "what happened with Komaeda-kun this morning?"

"He had me hooked up to a weird machine that let me see what my boss was talking about with her husband," Hinata said. Nanami gave him a look as if he were claiming that the moon landing was faked. He sighed. "Believe me, he was. Just ask Kirigiri-san- somehow, I knew about the car crash results and my missing parents being found before they told me."

"Hmm, that's strange," Nanami said, and the look vanished into a look of thoughtfulness. "I wonder why he was showing you that?"

"He called it a warning," Hinata said darkly, "twice. There was something about that dream that he really wanted me to be intimidated by."

"I see," Nanami said. Once again, she trailed off. "Well," she said, "can you think of any strange details in the dream?"

Hinata thought about the dream, but nothing seemed out-of-place. Except, of course, for the fact that he could _see _the Kirigiri home even though he had never been in it, but that was probably due to the strange machine that Komaeda had. "Nothing."

"I see." Nanami stood up and picked up her plate, even though she wasn't done. "I'm not hungry," she announced, "I'll just put this away."

"Okay," Hinata said. Nanami exited into the kitchen and, a few minutes later, entered back into the room and sauntered over to the couch and started up the Wii U. Hinata watched her go, and then returned to his meal and started picking at it.

Once he was done with dinner, he joined Nanami on the couch and watched her play _Pikmin III _again. "You know you can play instead if you want to," she said, but Hinata declined. He watched her play for a couple minutes before she said, "you know, what happens if Masaru's wife is your sister?"

"Then it means my boss assigned me to watch my brother-in-law, and based on what she said in my dream, she might know that too," Hinata said. He stood up. "I'm going off to bed, Chiaki-san."

"Goodnight, Hajime-kun," Nanami said, and she returned to her game.

* * *

Hinata walked into the little street-level café and looked around. "Hajime, over here!" someone called, waving to him. The speaker was Nagito Komaeda, Hinata's best friend of six years; he was dressed in his usual dark green hoodie and jeans.

"Hey Nagito-kun," Hinata said, taking his seat at the little wicker table with Komaeda, "thanks for coming out here on such short notice." He started fiddling with his engagement ring. "Let me ask you something: do you- what do you think would happen if I left?"

"Left?" Komaeda said, "What do you mean, if you left? Left what, your job, your home-" his eyes dropped to Hinata's hand, and he said, "-or Chiaki-san?"

"I- you know that those people that shot Naegi-san, er, Kirigiri-san, have threatened Chiaki-san now, right?" Hinata said.

"I know," Komaeda said. "You already told me." He smirked and said, "but do you really think Chiaki-san would forgive you?"

"I don't need her forgiveness," Hinata snapped. "As long as she's safe, I don't care what she thinks of me."

Komaeda sighed. "Hajime, I don't think this is a good idea, this idea you have," Komaeda said. "How do you know that this isn't exactly what they want?"

"Nagito-kun, I would walk into an obvious trap if it meant she was safe," Hinata replied earnestly. Komaeda gave him an uneasy look and his smile vanished.

"Hajime," he said, "do you really think she'll be safe if you leave?"

"Yes."

"You really, truly believe that?"

"Yes. Every night, now, I have nightmares where she's the one shot. I can't let that happen. I can't let her die, or even get close to dying," Hinata said. He grabbed his hair with his hands. "She's all I have, I don't know what I'd do if she died-"

"Hajime," Komaeda said, "I don't think you realize that sometimes there are worse things than bullets." He got up and walked away.

Hinata watched Komaeda leave, but made no motion to stop him. He had to protect Nanami at all costs, and by now, no one could convince him otherwise.

* * *

Hinata, still dressed as a janitor, took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the Masaru residence. He had already gotten the go-ahead from Kirigiri, and another KDL agent would be "maintaining" the elevator.

The door opened to show Masaru. "Welcome, welcome janitor-san!" he said, and Hinata heard someone roaring with laughter in a manner not unlike Hinata's old classmate Nidai further into the apartment. "Come in, we made steak just for you!"

Masaru's apartment was laid out much like Nanami's, except that where she had a TV room Masaru had an elegant dining room where three people were already seated: Mina, Akane Owari, and Nekomaru Nidai. "HINATA-KUN!" Nidai boomed, holding up a stopwatch, "YOU ARE THREE MINUTES LATE!"

Mina and Masaru flinched from the sound, Owari stuck her fingers in her ears, and Hinata winced in pain. "N-nidai-kun," Mina gasped, "please don't yell, we like our ears-"

Nidai apologized loudly, and then Hinata and Masaru sat down. Everyone save Hinata was dressed very nicely, an unusual site for Nidai and Owari considering their athleticism lent itself to sportswear in every setting Hinata had seen them in ever since his first year at Hope's Peak. As for Hinata, well, he was wearing a janitor's suit, as previously stated.

"Aren't you glad to see us?" Owari said, "it's been some time!"

"Not especially, no," Hinata said dryly. Owari and Nidai both scowled at him, and he said quickly, "you realize that I don't want to be here, right?"

"Well, don't worry," Masaru said, "Despair doesn't give you a choice." Nidai nodded sheepishly, Owari stared down at her food, and Mina kept staring at Hinata.

"I know," Hinata snapped, "and could you tell your wife to stop staring at me?"

"Do you think I control her?" Masaru said dryly, "Tell her yourself."

"Fine." Hinata turned to Mina and said, "Masaru-san, please stop staring at me."

"Don't worry, brother," she said calmly, "I'm just making sure that you're in good health."

Nidai and Owari began looking between Mina and Hinata. "How did you-" Hinata asked.

"The government decided I needed to disappear for some reason," Mina said. "So I got sent to live with a foster family. We met at Hope's Peak, and Ryo's grandmother decided to arrange for us to be engaged."

"And we thought you would get married first," Masaru added, "though that fell apart thanks to Despair, didn't it."

Hinata glared at Masaru and said nothing. He began cutting into his steak. "Well, what do you want with me? Are you going to torture me for information or something?" Hinata demanded.

"You're in no position to make demands," Mina replied emotionlessly. She also began cutting into her steak. "But no, we're not here to torture you."

"You seem to trust the steak," Owari pointed out. Hinata, who was about to eat the steak on his fork, set it down instead.

"So, you're both in Despair too?" Hinata said, and he pointed at Nidai and Owari with his steak knife.

"We all are," Nidai rumbled, "Despair's overcome us all."

Hinata snorted. "What, was Souda-kun part of Despair when he died?"

"No," Owari said, "and neither was our little, uh, actor friend when he died. But since then, they've been snapping up graduates of Hope's Peak."

"Including you?" Hinata said. Owari nodded, though she looked guilty.

"Don't worry, Hinata-san," Masaru interjected, "all we've done is recruitment."

An odd silence fell over the table. "Masaru-kun," Nidai said slowly, "why are you telling him about the cell-"

"I have already cleared it with Britain, if that's what you're worrying about," Masaru said dismissively.

"Why would Komae-Britain allow it? I thought KDL was supposed to be our enemies?" Owari said.

"It's not our place to question the boss," Nidai said calmly. "Even if his decisions are very odd."

"Besides," Mina said, "Kirigiri has a spy somewhere in Despair. It's the only explanation as to how she knows so much."

"As I was saying," Masaru said, "the Minato cell is running recruitment, money laundering, corporate espionage, blackmail, the works. Anything to enlarge our coffers and our ranks in time for the game."

Mina's impassive face didn't change, but Nidai arched an eyebrow and Owari furrowed hers. "What game?" she asked.

Masaru shrugged. "Something big the higher-ups are planning. I don't know much, ask Britain."

"Or Xiong Nu or Germany," Mina added, "Xiong Nu's the strongest of the cell bosses on the committee, and Germany's the only non-big boss or cell boss on the committee."

"Who's Xiong Nu?" Hinata said.

"He's the boss of the Shibuya cell," Nidai said. He looked uncomfortable and glanced at Masaru, who nodded.

"And Germany?"

"Someone who's part of the Monochrome project," Masaru said. "And that, dear brother-in-law, is all I'll say about Despair now. Now, please answer some of _my _questions, you know-"

"tit-for-tat," Mina finished, and Masaru nodded.

"So, tell me, how long has your camera been operating?" Masaru said. "I know it's there."

Hinata swallowed but said nothing. He reached for his phone and typed the quick-dial button that would alert the KDL agent.

"Messing with your phone, Hinata-san?" Masaru said. He sighed. "You're lucky the boss wants you at his wedding. Otherwise, I'd just kill you here right now."

Hinata heard a sharp rapping on the door coming from the hallway. "Well," Masaru said, "I'm sorry you didn't eat anything and didn't say anything, even though we told you so much. Please, come again." Masaru smirked at him as Hinata got up and left for the door.

As he opened the door to the dining room to exit in the hall, however, he heard a small _click_. He turned slightly to see Mina leveling a gun at him. "Not a word," she said coldly. "I think you'll find I have more willpower than Britain too."

And then Hinata smirked cockily at her. "Sister," he drawled, "if you fire, KDL will hear it and they'll know from gunpowder residue who killed me. And if you think you can kill me in my apartment, well, how do you think 'Britain' would like it if I died before his wedding?"

Mina's face twisted into a glare, but she lowered the gun, and Hinata left the room. The last thing he saw of Masaru's apartment was the little, black-and-white bear sitting on top of the shoe rack in the entry room.

* * *

**A/N: And now everything's coming together. Review if you have any questions or comments! And also, perhaps, if you have a guess as to what Komaeda's real agenda is.**


	7. Number Four

**A/N: As for the timeline, I'd say there are about... four weeks in-universe left in the story by the end of this chapter. You'll see. But this is the start of Komaeda and Sonia's wedding, as well as the end of the flashbacks to Hinata leaving. **

* * *

"Hajime, please, come to bed..." Nanami begged. Hinata was standing at the kitchen table, still dressed; he turned to face Nanami. She looked paler, and she had bags underneath her eyes. She stumbled forward and grabbed Hinata's arm. "Come on, please."

Hinata sighed and let her guide him into her bedroom, although Hinata could see that she was starting to tremble. "Hajime, please," and she collapsed onto the bed. She hadn't been getting sleep lately for some reason.

"Chiaki, just go to sleep," Hinata said, as if that would make things better. He began getting ready for bed. "Here, I promise that things will be better tomorrow."

"Do you promise?" she said. He nodded. She crawled to her side of the bed and tucked in, and then watched him, anxiety written across her face, as Hinata finished his preparations and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he emerged, he flicked the lights off and crawled next to her. "Hajime," she whispered, "please... do you still love me?"

"Of... of course I do," Hinata whispered back, and he pulled her closer to him and buried his face in her hair. It smelled like strawberries. "If I wasn't, would I do this?" he murmured into her ear, and then kissed her full-on the mouth. Evidently, she hadn't been expecting it, but before long she returned the kiss. Then he broke off.

"G'night, Hajime," Nanami said, and she grabbed Hinata's hand. "Please... please be there for me..." And then she fell asleep, lost in her exhaustion.

Hinata watched her sleep for a little, and then extricated himself from the bed, a difficult task since Nanami had ensnared Hinata's legs in her own. Then he got dressed again. He paused, watching Nanami sleep, and gave her a final kiss goodbye on her forehead, and left her room. He softly closed the door and walked over to the kitchen table, where he wrote out his goodbye note, and, having completed it, pulled his engagement ring off and set it on the note. He added his apartment key and then he opened the closet, grabbed his suitcases, and shut the door.

Before long, he was at Narita International Airport, ready to go anywhere in the world, just so long as she would be safe. But out of the corner of his eye, he could've sworn he saw a bride with a dress turning blood-red walking in the crowd…

* * *

Hinata and Nanami were staring down at the sparkly little wedding invitations they'd received in the mailbox. "You are invited to the royal wedding of Princess Sonia Nevermind and President of TR Nagito Komaeda" it announced, "to be held at the embassy of Novoselic in Minato ward, Tokyo, on Thursday, 26 September." Beneath the official invitation was scrawled, in Komaeda's handwriting, "you're especially important, Hajime! You might not be best man, but you will be _sorely missed _if you don't show up."

Hinata showed the invitation to Nanami, who'd also received a copy that she hadn't opened yet. "Looks like he's threatening you," she said.

"Looks like it," Hinata said. "Doesn't he realize that people have work on weekdays?"

"He's probably only inviting Hope's Peak graduates and other rich and powerful people," Nanami said. "When's the wedding?"

"The twenty-sixth."

"Damn. That's when _Wind Waker HD _come out," she said, and sighed. "And there I go again, worrying more about video games than my friends..."

"Is Komaeda really our friend anymore?" Hinata said, "Or Sonia, what with their membership in Despair."

"They apparently spared me," Nanami pointed out. "I don't think they're all bad. Still, that gives us eight days to get the clothes and wedding gifts and all that," she said, "you'd think we'd get more warnings."

"The mysteries of the rich," Hinata said, and he looked out of the lobby windows to see the sun setting. "More like a week, really, if we're not counting the day itself."

"I'll say." Hinata and Nanami entered the elevator. "So," Nanami said, "you still haven't told me about your dinner with the Masarus. Is his wife-"

"Yeah, she's my sister, and she's as torn-up about me as I am about her," Hinata said. Nanami shook her head.

"You'd think that, after years of not seeing each other, you'd actually care," Nanami griped. Hinata shrugged.

"Like I said, hospital, remember, Tiki-san?"

Nanami punched Hinata lightly in the arm. "Don't do that again," she said, and the elevator door opened.

They entered Nanami's apartment. "So," Hinata said, "you doing anything tonight?"

"Why do you wanna know?" Nanami said, and she half-smiled. "Planning something?"

"Maybe," he said, and he walked towards the TV room. "I might or might not've found a bad video game-related movie when I was shopping earlier today after work ended, but I just don't have the heart to actually watch it."

He turned his head to see Nanami's reaction- she looked interested: her head was tilted, her eyes were open slightly widened, and her eyebrows were furrowed. "Keep talking..." she said.

Hinata smirked. "And I was wondering if a certain lovely lady could help me keep my wits about me?" he said.

Nanami sighed and shook her head, but she walked over to him regardless. "I'll help," she said, "on one condition."

"And that is?" Hinata said, and he opened the TV room door and bowed deeply.

"That you stop acting so weird," Nanami said, but she giggled and said, "although I'll admit, this is a good way to keep our minds off of Komaeda-kun."

"As you wish," Hinata said, and he followed Nanami through the door. "You work the Blu-ray, I'll get the snacks."

"And what's the occasion?"

"Just a bit of fun," Hinata said innocently, "I have no ulterior motive, okay? I just want to have a fun night with my new friend Chiaki Nanami."

"How kind of you, Hajime-kun," Nanami said, and she giggled again.

The movie was fun for all the wrong reasons: the acting was horrible, the special effects laughable, and the plot ridiculous. Nanami spent almost five minutes ranting about how the movie butchered the game, and Hinata complained for even longer about improper search techniques and gun safety. But in the end, they still had fun.

At the end of the movie, they heard a buzzing sound from the door. Nanami rose to get it, leaving Hinata to remove the movie from the Blu-ray player. When she returned, she was holding a couple of white-and-black teddy bears in her arms. "Aren't they cute?" she cooed, and she dropped them all on the couch. "A present, from Chihiro-kun, my cousin."

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten him," Hinata said, and he picked one up. It was just like the teddy bears spying on the Kirigiris, the headmaster, and the one in Masaru's room. Nanami picked one of them up and, humming, she turned her back on Hinata to put a bear on top of the TV, giving him the opportunity to examine it more closely.

He was sure that its little black eye was a camera…

"Hajime-kun, what are you doing?" Nanami said. Hinata glanced up from his seat on the couch to see her standing over him, a curious look on her face. "Something wrong?"

"Headmaster Kirigiri has one of these," Hinata said, "he was scared of it."

"Well, you know that Chihiro-kun wouldn't hurt a fly. These things aren't dangerous," Nanami said, and Hinata almost wanted to believe her. However, his protests fell on deaf ears; Nanami said that there was no way her cousin would miss any sensitive electronics in the bears, and besides, she couldn't see any either. Hinata was just paranoid.

"Well," she said, putting the final bear on top of the shoe rack, "thanks for tonight, Hajime-kun." Then she kissed him, lightly, on the cheek and walked to her room.

"G-g'night, Chiaki-san," Hinata said, in a stupor, and she winked at him before entering her room. Hinata stumbled to bed and fell asleep, caught in a strange sort of bliss that he knew, deep down, he really shouldn't be feeling.

* * *

Wedding shopping and clothes rental took place over the weekend. At a loss as to what to buy two wealthy and powerful people, Hinata got Komaeda and Sonia a waffle iron; Nanami got them a vacuum cleaner. As for clothes, they had to follow the traditional royal dress as per Novoselic tradition: gray, gray, and more gray. Gray ribbons, gray bow tie, gray suit and dress. Apparently it signified purity or something in Novoselic, something ironic considering the princess and her fiancé, to say the least.

As for Hinata and Nanami's relationship, their flirting continued. To a certain part of Hinata, it made no sense; surely such things would just drag up bad memories. They had also watched another bad video game movie on Friday, mocking it together; it scared Hinata how much Nanami could get into it, screaming insults for _daring _to defile Mario. And it also scared him how much it reminded him of earlier, better times; fortunately, this wasn't something they did when they were younger.

And, above all, their jobs continued. Nanami was forced to use a vacation day to attend the wedding; Hinata, meanwhile, had found out from Mina that the Masarus were also attending, meaning that Hinata now had a work-related reason to go to the wedding.

The 25th brought with it a surprise: a phone call from Nekomaru Nidai. "Hey, uh, Hinata-kun," he growled, "be at Komaeda-kun's bachelor party at my place or, uh, you'll be in danger!"

Nidai terminated the call and Hinata stared at his phone. Nanami walked into the room and glanced at it; Hinata explained, "Nidai just called me and tried to threaten me into going to Komaeda's bachelor's party."

"Ah. Well, I've been invitedto Sonia-san's party and I chose to go," Nanami said, "you might as well go to Komaeda's too."

Hinata sighed. "Fine."

Nanami left the room, giving Hinata time to change. Figuring that the party would just be a whole bunch of alcohol or something, Hinata dressed in his most disposable jeans and t-shirt and joined Nanami in the main hall of the apartment: she was dressed in a nice dress. "Not going high-class?" Nanami said, arching an eyebrow, but Hinata did not respond.

Another unpleasant surprise came when they reached the main lobby of the apartment building, where the Masarus were waiting. "Ah, janitor-san, four-san," Masaru said, bowing slightly, "we were just discussing you two!"

"About?" Hinata asked.

"About you needing a car," Masaru said. "Nidai-kun's place is pretty far from here, and so is Sonia-san's place. If four-san here drops you off at his place first, she'll be very late for Sonia-san's party, and this a royal tradition or something, so it's _very _bad to be late. Take it from me."

"You have experience in these matters?" Mina said. Masaru nodded.

"Little visit to Novoselic that went wrong," he muttered. "So," he added, turning back to Hinata, "how about you drive with _me _to Nidai-kun's penthouse, while four-san and Mina drive in their cars to Sonia's house." Hinata glanced at Nanami, and she shrugged. Hinata sighed. Again.

"Fine," Hinata said, "I'll go with you." At least Masaru was also wearing cheap-looking clothes, and even Mina was only dressed casually.

Once they'd arrived at the carpark, Hinata said goodbye to Nanami and, after some prodding from her, to Mina as well; then he got in Masaru's car.

* * *

Rain had started to fall by the time Masaru had driven out to the road, although the light was just as intense as ever, and the traffic was heavy for a Tokyo night; Hinata and Masaru were going at a snail's pace. "Masaru-san," Hinata said, staring out into the rain and traffic with boredom, "why did you call Nanami-san 'four-san'?"

"Because that's what my boss calls her," Masaru said, and added unnecessarily, "Britain."

"And why would Komaeda call her that?" Hinata added, glancing at Masaru to see him frowning slightly.

"He's an executive for Togami Robotics," Hinata said. "Ever since he's been in charge, that branch of the Togami conglomerate has had a whole bunch of lucky breaks- a corporate spy is accidentally discovered by a KDL agent, a state prosecutor gets drunk one night and flushes his investigation on the company down the toilet, a top competitor is busted in anti-corruption probes, a robotics researcher working for Honda jumps companies over a slight misunderstanding- the works."

"And Nanami-san is the fourth-most important person?" Hinata said.

Masaru nodded. "She's the fourth-highest ranking executive in Togami Robotics," he said, "hence her high salary and cushy apartment."

They drove in silence, Hinata digesting the information. His very rusty detective skills were kicking in- Masaru sounded confident, so this probably was the truth. On the other hand, he was also a terrorist. And, most importantly, he had never heard Komaeda call her "four-san".

"Masaru-san, who's the number four member of Despair?" Hinata said.

Masaru shrugged. "Depends on who you ask," he elaborated after Hinata shot a glare at him, "some say it's a member of the planning committee. Some say it's a cell boss. I think only the big bosses really know. Why, are you suspecting Nanami-san?"

Hinata gulped. "O-of course not!"

Masaru snorted. "I see," he said, but he did not elaborate.

"Masaru-san," Hinata squeaked, feeling ridiculous as he did so, "who's number four in Minato?"

"Not Nanami-san," Masaru replied coolly. Hinata flinched. "In case you're wondering, it's Mina. It goes Britain, Austria, France, and Spain. Nagito Komaeda, Ryotsa Masaru, Sonia Nevermind, Minako Masaru. You really should ask your boss these things, she already knows."

"Because she has a spy," Hinata said. Masaru nodded.

"I might even know who it is," Masaru said, "but I can't spring the trap yet."

"And why do you tell me so much about you, then?" Hinata demanded.

Masaru smirked but said nothing.

Hinata sighed. "Masaru-san," he said after a minute of staring out into the storm, "who is Izuru Kamukura?"

"The founder of Hope's Peak Academy," Masaru said calmly. "Why?"

"And what about Yasuke Matsuda?"

"'Ultimate Neurologist', graduated five years ago, top neurosurgeon in the world. Does this have something to do with Kamukura?"

Hinata did not reply, and this time Masaru sighed. "Masaru-san," Hinata said, "you said that you were recruiting Hope's Peak graduates. Does that include Hiroshi Nakejawa?"

Masaru appeared to ignore him. "Masaru-san? Nakejawa?"

Masaru said nothing but stared stonily forward. Clearly, Nakejawa was _far _more important than the sculptor had let on in Hinata's first- and only- meeting with him. "What about Athens and Sparta?"

"Athens and Sparta work for Persia, one of the big bosses," Masaru said. "I don't know much 'bout them, though. Sorry."

"What do you know about the Monoscope?"

"Never heard of it."

"And the Monochrome project?"

"Not my jurisdiction."

"How close are we to Nidai penthouse?"

"Close. Maybe time for a last question."

"Where is Junko Enoshima?"

Masaru's knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. "I don't know," he said through grit teeth. "And even if I knew, I can't tell you."

He pulled the car into a parking garage. "Here we are. Run ahead, he's on the 19th floor," Masaru said, "I need to, ah, call Mina. Sort things out, see if she's there yet."

"Calling ahead so that you can get some goons to kill me," Hinata said, and he got out of the car.

"You're too important to the game for that!" Masaru called, but Hinata did his best to ignore him and headed to the elevator. "And believe me!" he heard Masaru yell, "we'll be getting to know each other better, brother-in-law!"

Hinata snorted and waited for the elevator doors to close.

* * *

**A/N: Hopefully, I've raised more questions than I answered here. Next time: the bachelor's party. As always, questions and comments are welcome!**


	8. Mutes and Monobears

**A/N: By chapter 10, we'll be past the wedding, which I think I'll post a bit early since I was late with this part.**

* * *

When he arrived at Nidai's fancy penthouse, the party was already in full swing. After being quietly let in by Iyatso Tsuji, the scarred, mute opera singer, he turned right from the spartan entry room into a kitchen filled with expensive-looking appliances and white-coated waiters carrying food and alcohol in and out of an adjoining dining room while Teruteru Hanamura and his assistant chefs cooked furiously in both the main kitchen and an adjoining side-kitchen.

Hinata snuck out of the kitchen before Hanamura (who was currently shouting orders) could notice him, and into the dining room, where he found two very unusual guests: Makoto Kirigiri, and a tall, blond man with piercing eyes that Hinata recognized as Byakuya Togami.

"Ah, Hinata-san," Makoto said, waving to him from a corner of the room, "you just arrived?"

Hinata joined Makoto and Togami, observing the room as he went. It was large, with partygoers continually cycling in and out wearing everything from sullied shirts to impeccable attire. A glass table housed all of the food and alcohol, both of which seemed to be overflowing; already, a man was passed out underneath one of the stainless steel chairs. As for the walls and lighting, they were all white, which made a very strange contrast for a wall-screen of some pine trees and a wooden cabinet in the opposite corner through which a large black-and-white bear was surveying everything.

"So this is Hajime Hinata," Togami said, eyeing Hinata. "Kirigiri and I were just discussing you."

"You were?" Hinata said, glancing at his boss.

"His wife," Togami said, as if it were obvious.

"You know that you can just call her Kyouko, right?" Makoto said quickly, "It's always confusing when we're together-"

"You let her do all the thinking anyway," Togami charged. "I'm going to go find a bathroom." And he stalked off.

"So that's the great Byakuya Togami," Hinata commented as he and Makoto watched Togami march off. "One of our class used to love to impersonate him before he died."

"Togami-kun can be a little abrasive sometimes, but his heart's in the right place sometimes," Makoto said, and he laughed nervously and put his hand behind his head. "So, did you get threatened here too?"

"Yep."

Makoto's arm returned to his side. "I see," he said. "Well, shouldn't you go congratulate Komaeda-kun?" He pointed to the door through which the partygoers had been cycling. Many of them looked or were acting drunk.

"And you, sir? Are you gathering intel or something?" Hinata said.

Makoto blinked. "Well, yes, but only after everyone's drunk," he said. "And besides, Kyouko says I'm not allowed to drink, not after what happened in third year with Mukuro Ikusaba-san…"

Makoto trailed off and he walked over to the table and picked up a bottle of water. Then Togami returned. "Of course he only has three toilets," Togami murmured, "and of course he has to just _sit _there in the toilet and loudly announce the movements of his _bowels_-"

"Nidai?" Hinata said sympathetically. Togami nodded. "He's like that sometimes, especially when heavily drunk."

"I won't ask how you know that, since clearly you _plebeians _know such things," Togami said. Hinata fought off the urge to point out that all of the guests he had seen so far were rich and powerful men he recognized from the news and from Hope's Peak. "Take, for instance," Togami said, pointing at the pine trees painting, "that screen. Its real version is in the Tokyo National Museum, and it completely cuts into the decoration. Or take that cabinet," he added, nodding to the teddy bear cabinet, "while the bear is not at odds with this… post-modern interior design, the wood is completely out-of-place."

"Celes-san's been teaching you?" Makoto said.

"Taeko has taught me a lot about design, yes," Togami said. He turned back to the screen. "Of course, they're so conspicuous perhaps because they're trying to hide something poorly…" And with that pronouncement, he walked back to the screen and tilted it, revealing a completely-black monitor. "Fascinating…"

But then Makoto put his hand on Togami's arm and nodded towards the bear, which had seemed to turn its head to watch him. Togami shot a glance at the bear and let the screen fall. "How strange," Togami said, and, brushing his arm off, he left through a set of doors onto the outdoor balcony where two men were busy drunkenly kissing.

"Anyway," Makoto said, "go say congrats to Komaeda-kun, will you?"

"Uh, sure," Hinata said, and he made his way to the door. The door lead into a large room with mats against the wall and exercise equipment shoved against the side of the wall to make a very large… dance floor? Hinata couldn't tell- he had never actually been to a bachelor's party, considering that he had been cut-off from all his friends by running away to Osaka and that Makoto's party was cancelled out of police concerns. In any case, he was pretty sure that all those rich and powerful men were drunk or drinking, many of them clutching fancy-looking beer bottles, and many of them already passed out against the wall. He saw everyone from a young mayor of a certain famous town to the weaver of a famous tapestry he'd seen in LA.

But the most distinctive feature was the raised platform with all of the music equipment on it, manned by none other than Chihiro Fujisaki, Nanami's cousin who'd sent over the black-and-white bears. He looked much the same as his schooldays: short and feminine. He did not, however, have a dress on. And he was also someone Hinata did _not _want to meet: he had never spoken to Fujisaki after he ran to Osaka, and Fujisaki would probably not take the news that Hinata was living with his cousin again well.

But before Hinata could retreat somewhere, he was greeted with, "Hey, shithead!"

Hinata turned to his right to see Fuyuhiko "Babyface" Kuzuryuu, his hair streaked back, with one eye out. "I see you ran into some cops in the last three years," Hinata said, as evenly as possible. They had never been the best of friends in school. Or friends at all, for that matter.

Kuzuryuu cackled. "Yeah, don't worry, I lost my eye thanks to someone who didn't much like me as the boss." He balled his hand up into a fist and punched his palm, grinning savagely. "He's at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean now…"

"Lovely," Hinata said. Hinata was saved by the arrival of Leon Kuwata, the 'Ultimate Baseball Player' and former upperclassmen.

"What's up, Hinata-kun? Haven't seen you in -hic- forever!" Kuwata exclaimed. Hinata could _smell_ the beer he'd been drinking.

"Fuck off," Kuzuryuu snapped when Kuwata shoved him aside to stand next to Hinata.

"Same to you, buddy!" Kuwata snapped back, and he turned back to Hinata. "So, when're you goin' to come and see our band again? You and Komaeda-kun used to come and see it all th' time!"

"I've been busy," Hinata said quickly. "Are you still in it-"

"Ibuki-san on the guitars, I'm on drums, and Sayaka on the vocals, yep!" Kuwata said proudly. Kuzuryuu shook his head and slipped off into the crowd. "We've been trying to find a -hic- bass- you play?"

"Never have, Kuwata-kun. Have you seen Komaeda-kun?" Hinata said, edging away from Kuwata.

"Yeah, he's over there -hic- somewhere," Kuwata said, pointing towards Fujisaki. Hinata's heart dropped, but he thanked Kuwata nonetheless and began making his way around the right edge to see if he could find Komaeda.

Komaeda was nowhere in sight, so Hinata slipped into a slightly-ajar door. He was in a bedroom, but no one was in it; the bathroom, however, revealed a man snoring away against the shower wall and someone was slumped over the toilet, also sleeping. Hinata quickly closed the door to the bathroom and sat down on the bed to think about his conversation with Masaru.

For one thing, Masaru didn't want him to know about Nakejawa. This warranted investigation. And for another thing, he had to ask Nanami why she'd never mentioned Komaeda being her boss at work and why Komaeda never called her number four in public- and, if Masaru was lying, Hinata would have to find out why Masaru was _really _calling her number four.

Hinata heard the door snap shut and he glanced up to see Fujisaki. Hinata stood up quickly. "Hello, Hinata-san," Fujisaki said slowly and emotionlessly. "It's nice to see you again." He advanced towards Hinata.

"Hello, Fujisaki-san," Hinata said back carefully. Fujisaki walked right up to Hinata- even now, Hinata was still taller than Fujisaki- and put a hand on Hinata's shoulder.

"I heard you moved in with Chiaki-san," Fujisaki said with a bizarre cheerfulness that, with a start, Hinata realized he had heard all those years ago when Nanami had pretended to be cheerful shortly before he left. "Is it true?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I see." Then Fujisaki slugged Hinata, hard, right to the stomach. Hinata stumbled back, doubled over and seeing black spots, and then Fujisaki punched Hinata's head, sending him sprawling onto the bed.

Hinata, wheezing, looked up to see Fujisaki glaring at him while he rubbed his hand. "Did that hurt?" Hinata spat.

Fujisaki narrowed his eyes further. "Hinata," he said coldly, "that's for what you did to Chiaki-san. And the second one's for not apologizing."

Hinata forced himself up. "I did apologize," he snapped, "I apologized to Chiaki-san."

Fujisaki growled and punched Hinata in the chest again, although it was noticeably weaker than last time. "Don't say her name, you- you-!"

"You what!?" Hinata roared back, and he reached for his gun, "are you threatening me? I'm not going to apologize to you since I already apologized to who's _important_-"

"Apologize, Kiyo-kun!" Fujisaki snarled; based on the look in his eye, it was clear that Fujisaki was no longer entirely focused. "Apologize before I kill you, you filthy _traitor!_"

The door slammed open and Masaru, Togami, Makoto, and Komaeda rushed in. Fujisaki charged forward and pinned Hinata to the bed, growly as if he were a wild animal; Hinata pushed Fujisaki to the side and began imagining the best places to shoot Fujisaki to _kill_, how to overpower him and bash his head against the wall or slowly strangle him-

And then Masaru had pulled Fujisaki away and Togami was leveling a gun at both of them. Fujisaki was starting to sob something about "Kiyo-kun", and Makoto put his arm around Fujisaki's shoulder and lead him out of the room; Togami, Komaeda, and Masaru waited in the room with Hinata.

"Why were you fighting," Togami demanded, pointing his gun at Hinata.

"I was- we were- we had a disagreement, that's all," Hinata said. But burning shame over his thinking of how to _kill _Fujisaki was starting to eat into him… "He didn't like that I moved in with Nanami-san, thought I hadn't apologized, and I already had."

Togami narrowed his eyes but lowered his gun. "Very well," he said. He turned his back and left the room.

"Will you be fine for the wedding, Hajime?" Komaeda said. He had a tie tied around his head and he was flushed slightly, but otherwise seemed fine. He even had his usual green hoodie on. "I don't want my best man to be out-"

"Best man?" shouted Hinata, turning on Komaeda, "we're enemies, and I don't have the outfit, the wedding's tomorrow-"

"Nidai-kun is dead drunk and I'd rather you be my best man anyway," Komaeda said, no smile on his face, but he sounded sincere. "Hajime, you were my best friend, no matter what's happened since I walked out of that little café. Don't worry, the kingdom of Novoselic will have an outfit ready for you, too, or at least that you have the right accessories."

Komaeda started for the door, and Hinata said, "Well, fine. Congratulations, by the way. Komaeda-kun." Komaeda gave Hinata a weak smile.

Then Komaeda left the room, leaving Hinata alone with Masaru. "Hinata-san," Masaru said quietly, "I have one piece of advice for you: tell Nanami-san. If anyone'll be able to clear things up between you and Fujisaki-san, it's Nanami-san."

Then he, too, left the room.

Hinata sat down on the bed, his head still swimming as his mind replayed the many ways he could kill Chihiro Fujisaki, whose only crime was concern for his cousin and mistaking Hinata for a Kiyo-kun… the door clicked open again, revealing Makoto Kirigiri.

Wordlessly, Makoto shut the door and sat down next to Hinata. The thump of music continued, unabated, from the room next door. "Hinata-san," Makoto said, "you didn't fight back?"

"I was going to," Hinata said. "But I need to tell you something about that…"

"Yes?"

"I was… I was thinking of ways to kill him when you arrived," Hinata admitted. Makoto did not flinch away, like Hinata was sure he would. "I don't blame him for attacking me either, even if…"

"Chihiro-kun says that you reminded him a lot of Kiyotaka Ishimaru, his own ex-fiancé who ran away to be with a 'real man'," Makoto said slowly, obviously carefully picking his words. "It was shortly after you left for Osaka, too."

"But what about-"

"I don't know, Hinata-san. I'm not a psychiatrist, just a lawyer," Makoto said, "well, more a househusband these days, but I still do some legal work." He stood up. "Or maybe, you're having Izuru Kamukura show up?"

"Even if I am," Hinata rejoined, "that doesn't excuse-"

"Then apologize to Chihiro-kun," Makoto said.

Hinata stood up as well. "Maybe," he said, "but I'd better do it tomorrow, when he wouldn't dare attack me." Makoto frowned slightly. "In the meantime, I need to make a call."

Hinata left the room, edged past the still-partying crowd, past a set of double doors through which he could see Fujisaki talking to Saul Tsuji, and out onto the balcony. The men from earlier had disappeared; now, the only people outside were Iyatso Tsuji, who playing with a hamster of all things, and Byakuya Togami, who was sitting down on a chair and looking off into the rain. The balcony was covered with a metal roof, at least- thank God for small details like that.

Togami glanced sharply at Hinata and then returned to his gazing off into the rain. Tsuji, meanwhile, pulled up his own chair and looked as if he desperately wanted to say something to the hamster, yet could not- he would open his mouth but no sound came out. To be honest, he reminded Hinata of his old friend Gundam Tanaka.

Hinata pulled out his phone and called Nanami. The phone rang once, twice, three times before being picked up. "Hello, this is Chiaki Nanami," Nanami said; she sounded tired. She sounded like she tried to stifle a yawn and then added, "May I- may I ask who's calling?"

"Check your caller ID," Hinata said.

"Oh, hey Hajime-kun," Nanami said. She sounded a bit more awake now. "Sorry, I was just sleeping-"

"At a party?"

"It's really boring, I already congratulated Sonia-san and it's not like they have any games out yet," Nanami said. "Right now it's just all sex stuff, dunno why."

"N-novoselician tradition?"

"'We've got to make an heir'," Nanami replied, in a rather high-pitched voice. Then, normally, she added, "that's what the royal person talking inside was saying, anyway, don't see why the rest of us have anything to do with it- anyway, what's wrong?"

Hinata told her about his conversation with Masaru regarding her, Komaeda, and the number four thing, as well as his fight with Fujisaki. He left out, however, his planning how to kill Fujisaki as well as not directly accusing her of being in Despair.

"Yeah, he calls me that," Nanami said when he finished. "Komaeda-kun's always been strange like that. You'd have to ask him why he doesn't call me that when we're together, though."

"And what about Fujisaki-san?"

"I'll talk to him, clear things up. And Kirigiri-kun's right, you should apologize tomorrow. See you later." She terminated the call, and slowly, Hinata stored his phone back in his pocket. Looks like he had to talk to Komaeda tomorrow as well.

"Talking to your girlfriend?" Togami said.

Hinata glanced at Togami, who'd turned slightly to watch Hinata. Togami crossed his arms and leaned against the wall while Hinata protested, "We're not like that anymore."

Togami rolled his eyes. "Hinata," he said, "I want you to know something: I have robotics research missing." Then Togami checked his watch and left the balcony, leaving Hinata alone with Tsuji.

Tsuji's hamster squeaked and scurried into Tsuji's clothes, hiding. Then it popped out of Tsuji's collar and crawled over to his shoulder.

Just like Tanaka.

And then Hinata realized what had been staring him in the face: Iyatso Tsuji was Gundam Tanaka, freed from prison no doubt by Despair.

"Tanaka?" Hinata said, advancing on Tsuji. He knew, at least, that Tanaka had killed Souda; in school Hinata had been friends with them both, though he knew they were both rivals for Sonia's hand. "Gundam Tanaka?"

Tanaka rapidly shook his head, and then pointed inside and then made a stroke across his neck with his finger. "Can you talk?" Hinata said, still advancing.

Tanaka shook his head even harder. Then he pulled out his phone and scrawled something on it. Holding it up, Hinata saw that he'd written: "The Dark Gods of Despair ripped out my voice!" Then he threw another terrified glance at the window. This time, Hinata followed his gaze: the black-and-white bear was now sitting there, right outside the window, watching them both.

Tanaka scrawled "Monobear!" and then ran past Hinata, leaving his phone in Hinata's hands. Hinata watched him go, and then set out to find Makoto again.

He found him talking nervously with Kuzuryuu. "Look, what I'm sayin' here is that that shithead had it comin'!" Kuzuryuu was saying, and he slammed his fist into his palm like a judge's gavel. "I don' know why you legal types think he had a right to live after everything he did-"

"-yes, but Nakejawa-san-" Makoto replied, but he stopped when Hinata arrived, holding the phone out. "Yes, Hinata-san?"

"Tell Kirigiri-san that Gundam Tanaka is still alive, and he left this phone behind with me," Hinata said, and he gave the phone to Makoto. Kuzuryuu's eyes narrowed at Hinata and Makoto, and he stormed off in the direction of Komaeda. "What were you saying about Nakejawa, Kirigiri-san?"

Makoto blinked, and then said quickly, "We were talking about Commissioner Nakejawa's fall from Hope's Peak."

"Oh yeah, he told me that he was on the selection committee," Hinata said. Makoto nodded.

"Kyouko was on the board with him, although they didn't like each other much," Makoto said. "And we also think he had something to do with the Kamukura project. But enough about that, are you enjoying yourself?"

"Not really," Hinata said.

"Oh, good, I wanted to get back to Saya-chan," Makoto said, fidgeting. "Listen, Hinata-san, I'll drop you off at Roppongi."

The car trip back was not very exciting. Makoto's car, true to form, was neat and organized; Hinata had the "pleasure" of listening to Makoto and his wife talk via phone for half the ride back, occasionally inputing his opinion or the facts about Tanaka, Fujisaki, and Togami's missing robotics research, and then spent the other half of the trip listening to Makoto talk about all the amazing things Sayako had done recently.

When Hinata stumbled into the apartment, he felt drained. Slowly, he made his way towards the shower, but heard that it was on and instead slunk into the TV room and turned the news on.

"…the site of a major terrorist attack… believe to be part of a _suicide cult_… the part that most perplexes firefighters is the untouched black-and-white bear found in the apartment remains…"

Hinata stopped the channel on that news report. "The low-end apartment was the home of, amongst other people, famous djounshi artist Hifumi Yamada, who barely escaped the fire and has now been hospitalized for smoke inhalation," the anchor reported.

The news report continued, and Hinata realized that it was very odd that Yamada was not at Komaeda's party considering the massive amount of rich and famous people, or even simple Hope's Peak graduates such as himself or Makoto. And the Monobear had been watching the entire time…

Hinata quickly glanced at the little Monobear sitting on top of the TV. The big one at Nidai's penthouse could move, but that one had not; the only disappearing Monobear in the apartment was the one… holding… his phone…

He bolted up and ran into his room, but a quick search yielded no Monobear. As a matter of fact, every Monobear was where it should be. The only rooms he could not check, for obvious reasons, were Nanami's room and the bathroom.

So he returned to the news. "-tor Megure was unavailable for comment. And now, the weather!"

The weatherman burst into song, and Hinata turned the TV off. The news always got weird after a certain point, and apparently tonight it would start with the weather. So instead he left for his room to wait for Nanami to come out of the shower.

After about five minutes, he heard it shut off, and he rushed out of his room. All to see Chihiro Fujisaki in a towel.

"Fujisaki!?" Hianta said, backing away from him.

Fujisaki gave Hinata a wan smile. "Sorry about earlier, Chiaki-san cleared it up with me," he said. "And then she sent me here to shower off, see if I could get some soberness- the subway stop is closer to here than to my apartment in Shibuya."

Fujisaki then entered Nanami's room and, before long, emerged in a fresh dark green dress. "I'll be going now," he said, holding his head, "see ya at the wedding."

"S-see you," Hinata said, watching the boy he'd fantasized about murdering leave the apartment.

Nanami returned home a half-hour later. "Hello, Hajime-kun," she said as she pulled off her shoes; she straightened up, looked into Hianta's eyes, and said, "no fights tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes, Chiaki-san," he replied, rubbing the back of his head. His cheeks felt hot. "Uh, could you back away a little-"

Nanami looked away and then began marching towards her room. "Very boring party," she said, "or, at least, that's what Mahiru-chan told me. I was asleep for most of the time-"

"Chiaki-san, could you make sure that all the Monobears are in place in your room?"

Nanami arched an eyebrow but agreed to do it. No Monobear was out-of-place, in her room or in the bathroom.

The phone-holding bear had vanished entirely.

* * *

**A/N: Next time, the royal wedding, and a bit more. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please review!**


	9. The Wedding

**A/N: Originally, this was all one chapter, but I had to split it into two uneven parts to better maintain my cliffhanger. Thank you for the reviews!**

**And now, the royal wedding.**

* * *

Hinata's new-found status as the best man meant that he was in the Novoselician Embassy at 11:00 am, three hours before the wedding started, in a changing room with Komaeda and the royal male witness, a tall, blond man (albeit shorter and not as handsome as Byakuya Togami). Gray-clothed royal attendants swept around the room, mostly attending to Komaeda; Hinata and the royal witness had been pronounced to be good enough already, what with their gray suits, and were then lead over to some repurposed sinks so that their hair could be washed (despite Hinata's morning shower) in time for the wedding.

Komaeda, meanwhile, had to wear an outfit befitting someone of his station: golden thread rimmed his suit, and his bowtie and boutonnière had to be the _exact right _shades of gray and white respectively. The entire outfit had been custom-made in Novoselic, the attendants had explained to a curious Hinata.

And then Hinata and the royal witness had been discharged, their hair now nice and clean (again), their clothes still immaculate, so that the attendants could attend to Komaeda.

And this meant that they then had to wait in the, well, waiting room for three hours until the wedding could start. And this meant that the royal witness lectured Hinata on the wedding.

Unlike in standard western-style weddings, in a Novoselican royal wedding, the bride and groom would walk in, followed by the witnesses of the groom's family and the bride's family. This was apparently a tradition dating back to royal Novoselician weddings where the bride or groom marrying royalty was nobility or royalty themselves; however, even when Princess Sophia Nevermind married a Japanese-American millionaire in the 1920s, the custom was still observed.

In any case, Hinata and the male royal witness would walk behind Komaeda, and Sonia's witness (well, technically Komaeda's, but she was asked by Sonia according to the witness) and the female royal witness would walk behind Sonia.

After that, the witnesses would just kind of stand and watch the couple get married, and then follow them out when they were done. Hinata and the other Japanese witness wouldn't understand the ceremony anyway, since it was performed in Novoselician; they would just copy the royal witnesses.

This lesson over, the door to the waiting room opened and in walked the female royal witness, a tall brown-haired woman, and… Mahiru Koizumi. She seemed to be talking animatedly as she entered the room, but as soon as her eyes fell on Hinata she stopped and said, lowly and coldly, "oh, it's _you_."

The royal witnesses exchanged looks, and then walked to the back of room to stand next to a royal guard with a semiautomatic rifle strapped behind their back. Koizumi, meanwhile, glared at Hinata. She was dressed in a gray dress that looked remarkably like Nanami's; the two were probably still friends (Hinata had never asked), so he wouldn't be surprised if Nanami sent word to her friend about the dress shop she rented from.

While Hinata was pondering this no-doubt important factoid, Koizumi had been glaring at him and uttering some sort of guttural growl. "Is there a problem?" the guard in the back boomed, but Hinata waved him off.

"Hello, Koizumi-san," Hinata said. He tried to smile. Back in school, Hinata and Koizumi had been friends, although Koizumi had always been closer to Nanami; Hinata also knew that Koizumi had been the one who suggested to Nanami that she break up the engagement before Hinata took that step for her, or at least he was pretty sure it was Koizumi: Nanami hadn't said. In any case, he hadn't talked to her in the past three years.

Koizumi sighed, closed her eyes, and muttered something under her breath. When she reopened her eyes, she eyed Hinata and said, "What're you doing here?"

"Nidai was too drunk to be best man," Hinata said. "So Komaeda chose me."

"Just like a _man_," huffed Koizumi.

"I didn't drink," Hinata pointed out, "I don't think Komaeda did either."

"Yeah, but you guys never drank anyways," Koizumi said. "Not after what happened in second year with Ikusaba-san."

"After what?"

"You were so drunk you forgot, and Chiaki-chan and I decided not to tell you about it," Koizumi said, "although we barely stopped Hiyo-chan from telling you about it."

"What was so bad-"

But Koizumi buried her face in her hands. "It was really embarrassing," she groaned, "okay?"

"Um, alright."

And then the two of them stood in awkward silence. "So, are you going to copy Fujisaki and tell me-"

"I think that you already know," Koizumi said curtly, "and I already talked to Chiaki-chan and if she's willing to let you live in the apartment, then there's no reason I shouldn't either."

The awkward silence resumed. "Hinata," Koizumi said, "don't hurt her again, okay? She's really important to me."

"Yeah, well she's important to me too," Hinata said. "If she wasn't, we wouldn't be in this situation."

"No, if she was important you _wouldn't_ be in this situation," Koizumi said, a flicker of anger passing over her face.

"Yeah, she'd be six-feet-under and I'd be living in the bars," Hinata retorted.

Koizumi blinked and her mouth fell open. "So that's why… I always wondered-"

"Well, you told her that she might as well leave me," Hinata said through grit teeth, "didn't you?"

"Of course not," Koizumi snapped, her anger returned as she took her familiar 'bossy' pose, "I had nothing to do with that! I don't even know who told her that, it wasn't me or Hiyo-chan!"

And then the door opened and Komaeda entered. He looked stunning: his frantic hair was still frantic, but his clothes were radiant in its deep gray and gold trim, his boutonnière was a dazzling white, and he practically exuded confidence. His familiar smirk was in place, and even when his arms crossed his clothes still seemed impeccable. "I see you two are getting along," he said, eyeing first Hinata and Koizumi, then the witnesses and the guard in the back of the room, and then Hinata and Koizumi again. "I don't want any trouble, okay guys?"

"Fine," Koizumi said. She took a seat in a chair and pulled out a phone. "The ceremony will begin soon," she announced.

Hinata checked his own phone in disbelief, but sure enough: it was 1:45. "Where's Sonia-san?" he said aloud.

He was answered when another door opened. Princess Sonia Nevermind entered the room, and she looked absolutely stunning: her wedding dress was fancy, expensive-looking, slightly slim, and gray (the symbol of purity in Novoselic, as noted earlier, due to the long-running trait of gray eyes of the Nevermind family, and who was more pure than the royal family?). Like Komaeda's suit, the dress was adorned with gold, and she also had a very expensive-looking, silver tiara on. From the tiara, a veil hung over her face, obscuring it; that was yet another Novoselican tradition, one common in the west as well, which the royal witness claimed originated from Novoselic.

Come to think of it, Hinata knew a lot about Novoselic now. In any case, the base truth was that Sonia looked amazing. Koizumi held her phone up and snapped a picture, while Hinata stared at her, awed, along with Komaeda.

From beneath the veil, Hinata saw Sonia smile. "I see you all like my dress," she said, and she twirled about, showing everyone the smooth gray back as well. "It was specially made for me, since the last royal wedding dress was destroyed by the bombing raids during World War II," Sonia said, returning to her original facing. Then she advanced over to Komaeda. "What do you think, Nagito?"

"I- ah- you look… gorgeous," Komaeda said, a huge smile on his face. Hinata was surprised that he could talk, and Hinata quickly took a seat next to Koizumi.

Sonia leaned over and whispered something in Komaeda's ear, and he turned scarlet; then Sonia turned away from him and walked over to the royal witnesses and began talking with them in rapid Novoselician.

"Amazing…" Komaeda moaned, and he swayed slightly. Koizumi and Hinata glanced at each other, and then shot over to Komaeda before he fainted. "I'm marrying the best girl on the planet, guys," he said.

"Pre-wedding jitters," said the female royal witness sympathetically, coming over to stand by them. "Traditional reaction for people marrying a member of the royal family."

Outside the waiting room, a Novoselician choir began singing something, probably a wedding tune. The door creaked open and a balding man stuck his head in, barked something in Novoselician, and shut the door.

"Time to go," the royal male witness said. "Komaeda-sama, would you please take Princess Sonia's arm-"

Sonia pulled him up, and she and Komaeda linked arms. Behind Komaeda, Hinata and the royal male witness lined up; behind Sonia was Koizumi and the royal female witness.

The double doors to the waiting room opened up, revealing the main hall of the embassy where the wedding was to take place. A long red carpet lead down the center of the aisle of two massive columns of chairs filled with people, many of whom, Hinata noted, were looking queasy and attempting to glare at the real organ in the back of the room. As for the rest of the room, large, probably bullet-proof windows poured sunlight onto the gathered crowd, and more armed guards stood in front of each entrance and exit to the room Hinata could see.

The balding man was standing to the side, and as soon as the choir switched songs, Komaeda and Sonia started down the aisle, tailed by their witnesses. As the entourage walked down the aisle, Hinata saw many familiar faces in the crowd: the Kirigiris sans daughter on the inner edge of the left column, Fujisaki leaning against an uncomfortable-looking Iyatso Tsuji aka Gundam Tanaka, looking miserable, Mina and her husband in the middle of the right column, Tsumiki and Hanamura a couple of rows ahead of the Kirigiris, and, with a jolt, even Dr. Matsuda and a pretty-looking red-haired girl near the front row. He also saw Nanami with Hiyoko Saionji and the Kuzuryuus in the left-hand second-to-front row. For the briefest of moments, Nanami's dress was white-and-red, but Hinata blinked and she was back to normal, watching the procession with seeming interest.

Hinata could feel his heart beating faster as the procession finally reached the minister overseeing the marriage, an unusual sight for Japan considering how marriage worked, but apparently yet another Novoselican tradition. The priest was tall, balding, and hook-nosed, and began speaking… in Novoselican.

And thus began perhaps the oddest marriage of Hinata's life. It was clear from Komaeda's expression, as held Sonia's hand, that he hadn't the faintest idea what the minister was saying, but when Sonia squeezed his hand, Komaeda said something- probably "I do" in Novoselician- and then the minister turned to Sonia and began saying something similar but not identical in Novoselician. Then, once she had also said the phrase, the minister spoke at length, still in a language that no one understood save Sonia's retinue, and then a chubby bearded man with white hair in the front row stood up, said, "Congratulations for finding the love of your life, Sonia! Your mother and I love you and welcome the new Prince-Consort Nagito Komaeda-Nevermind into the family!" and repeated the phrase in Novoselician.

Then his wife, a thin woman with a lined face and thick gray hair, said, "And I hope that your days may be as numbered and as filled with love as that of my mother-in-law Queen Sophia, whose legendary reign was said to be blessed by God Himself!" Then she, too, repeated herself, and sat down.

The minister said a few more words, and then the royal witnesses produced gold rings. The male witness inspected his, handed it to Hinata, who copied the gesture, and handed it to Komaeda just as Koizumi handed her own to Sonia; then, Komaeda and Sonia exchanged the rings, placing them on their right ring fingers, and the minister said something that probably meant "You may now kiss the husband," since Sonia pulled her veil off and kissed Komaeda deeply, full on the lips. The audience broke out into applause, causing a few people, such as Fujisaki or Nidai, to glower at the audience, and then it fell silent as the king stood again and announced, "and now, the Kingdom of Novoselic will provide its tribute to your love: may you have one-hundred years of peace and purity! Sound the twenty-gun salute!"

The audience cheered and broke into applause again as the first gun went off. _Boom. _Hinata twitched badly when it went off, but he grit his teeth. Together, Komaeda and Sonia began walking back down the aisle, followed by the royal witnesses, Koizumi, and Hinata himself.

_Boom_. The chapel seemed to shake from the sound of the cannon. Hinata felt himself slowing, ever-so-slightly, but he refocused and stared straight ahead.

_Boom_. More dust fell from the ceiling, and for a moment, Hinata thought he saw, out of the corner of his eye, cracks forming on it. When he quickly glanced at the ceiling, the cracks were not there, and he realized that he was slightly behind the royal witness again.

_Boom_. The procession was now a fifth of the way down the aisle, walking slowly, just past Nanami's aisle. Hinata craned his neck to glance at her, and saw her giving him a look of concern. He glanced to his left and saw that Dr. Matsuda and his friend were also watching him, but with interest instead of concern.

_Boom_. Hinata refocused again, this time on his boss and her husband. Makoto, he could see, was starting to tremble and clutching Kyouko's arm so tightly Hinata could see her flesh paling from his position; Kyouko, for her part, seemed paler than usual.

_Boom_. Now Hinata could feel his body slowing, and his peripheral vision seemed to be narrowing. He staggered forward, and could hear people start muttering in the crowd.

_Boom_. More dust fell, and Hinata thought he heard a distinctive, "Get out, there might be more bombs!" Which was impossible, seeing as Mukuro Ikusaba was missing…

_Boom_. Hinata put one of his hands to his head and risked a look back into the crowd, and saw Nanami and the Kuzuryuus rushing forward.

_Boom_. Hinata bumped into something- it was the royal witness. Fear welled up in Hinata, and then he tripped and fell into the witness, knocking them both to the floor.

_Boom_. He heard someone snap, and he looked around, but all he saw was Sonia in a blood-soaked wedding dress, and then when he looked at Nanami and the Kuzuryuus they were also wearing blood-soaked clothes, and even when he looked down…

_Boom_. He didn't ask for this. His clothes were turning red as well, and soon the red was all he could see and he heard someone rushing forward and he began screaming and screaming and screaming...

* * *

**A/N: Before you ask, yes, I have researched this. I have actually done quite a bit of research for this- for instance, the rail format from the airport, the layout of apartments at Roppongi Hills Residence B, and PTSD/stress-related attacks, and the wedding (which I based on Polish weddings). I'll put up the second part later today- until then, if you have any questions or comments, please review.**


	10. Chain of Command

**A/N: And now, the conclusion of the wedding.**

* * *

Hinata woke up in an unfamiliar room. The drapes over the window were closed, and a thick blanket covered him; pulled the blanket off and observed that he was dressed in a gray suit.

"Thank _God_ you're awake."

Hinata looked around the room, but it was almost completely dark. One of the drapes shifted, letting in sunlight, revealing Minako Masaru. "Mina…" Hinata said, slowly. He picked himself up out of bed. "Explosions at the wedding…"

"The only explosions were the 12-gun salute," Mina said. "As soon you started screaming, Sonia-san had them cut it off. You're in a room converted for one of the royal witnesses right now." She walked over to the bed and sat on the end of it. "What did you see?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Hinata said. He walked, weakly, over to the drapes, and looked outside: a beautiful courtyard devoid of human life greeted him.

"I was 'Ultimate Psychiatrist', Hajime-kun," Mina said flatly. "I can help."

"I don't need a shrink."

"Yes, you do. What did you see?"

Hinata bit his lip. He realized that he was sweaty, and then said, "Why am I-"

"Tell. Me." He heard a click in the darkness and the door opened a sliver.

"Ah, Hajime," Komaeda said, rushing forward, Sonia right behind him, "you're alright!"

"We didn't know what happened," Sonia added. Sonia and Komaeda hugged Hinata tightly, but they backed off when he groaned. "Sorry."

"If I'd known you'd act like that, I would never've asked you to be best man," Komaeda said.

"How long have you two been waiting?" Hinata said.

"Half an hour," Sonia replied.

"Go to your reception, I'll clear things up with Masaru-san." Then he smiled a little, fake, smile. "This is your special day, not mine!"

"Alright, Hajime, but you be alright, okay?" Komaeda said. Then, taking Sonia's hand, he exited the room with her.

But the door did not click shut, since the Kuzuryuu, his blonde sister, and Peko Pekoyama entered the room. "Better, man?" Kuzuryuu said.

"What's with the sudden concern?" Hinata snapped. He turned his back on the gangster.

"What, are we gangsters not allowed to help others!?" demanded Kuzuryuu's little sister- Hinata didn't know her name.

"More like you wanted a policeman in your debt," Pekoyama pointed out stonily.

"Look, thanks for the assistance," Hinata said. "Now, please leave. The reception's starting soon."

He heard the Kuzuryuus and Pekoyama shuffle out of their room. At the last minute, Kuzuryuu called in, "Feel better, Hinata-kun, 'cuz you're gonna need an appointment with Dr. Otonashi!"

The door clicked shut again, and Hinata glanced at his sister. She was frowning. "What is she planning?" she muttered, seemingly to herself.

"Who?"

"Ryouko Otonashi, Yasuke Matsuda's girlfriend," Mina said. She straightened up and added, "the red-haired one."

"I got that, thanks," Hinata growled. He looked out on the grounds again and saw that it was still unchanged. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, to be honest.

The door clicked open again, and Hinata whirled around and yelled, "What am I, a trainwreck-"

He stopped when he saw that he'd just startled Nanami.

"I-I was just getting a drink of water-" she said, "I didn't know you'd woken up-"

"How long was I out?" Hinata said grumpily as she entered the room.

"Half an hour, like Sonia-san said," Mina said, and she observed, "but generally the amnesia is of the event itself, so if you'd please tell me what you remember?"

Hinata opened his mouth to issue an angry retort, but he stopped when Nanami grabbed his hand. "Please," she said. "Please talk."

Hinata's mouth dried up, and he let Nanami guide him over to the bed. "Well," Mina said, watching them both with a blank face.

"I…I…" he glanced at Nanami, and then back at Mina. He took a deep breath, and said, "it all goes back to the Kirigiri's wedding…"

And he explained about the nightmares he used to have. They didn't stop until about a week after he left Nanami, about three weeks after the near-assassination of Makoto Kirigiri, when he heard that his boss' husband had left the hospital; for the last three years, they'd popped up before, but it became easy to ignore them. By the time he returned to Japan, the nightmares were gone.

"And what did you see during the salute?" Mina said. She's started taking notes on her tablet computer.

Nanami squeezed his hand, and Hinata began, "I saw blood…"

"Blood? On who?"

"Everyone. Sonia-san, Komaeda-kun, the Kuzuryuus, Chiaki-san… and myself." He shuddered as the moment replayed in his mind.

"Anything else?"

"I… I heard Mukuro Ikusaba yelling about bombs, too," Hinata said, "but there's no way that she could be here…"

Mina and Nanami traded glances, and then Mina clicked her tablet shut. "I see," she said. "Hajime-san, please come to my apartment tomorrow. For now, just rest a little, and then come to the reception. I'll keep an eye on you."

Mina left the room and let the door swinging shut, leaving Hinata in the room with Nanami, alone, a single stripe of light running on the ground.

"Hajime," she whispered, "I'll stay here until you want to go to the reception."

"Y-you know how to get there, Chiaki?"

"It's just down the hall from the wedding area," she said, her voice more normal. She leaned into him. "Hajime, you don't have problems around guns, do you?"

Hinata shook his head. "I guess it's the sound in the right setting," Hinata said. He squeezed her hand. "Forgive me for asking this, but didn't you say that-"

"Yeah," Nanami said, and her voice lost its… bounce, becoming very flat. "That first night you showed up, I dreamed about waking up in that hospital after I nearly killed myself in Chihiro-kun's apartment…"

She trailed off and seemed to stare off into space. "C-chiaki, I'm sorry," Hinata said softly, "but I thought-"

Nanami smiled bitterly. "I'm sorry, Hajime-kun, I forgot that we tried to put this all past us," she said, and she put her head on Hinata's shoulder. "It's just, well…"

"We've really only been friends for a week," Hinata said.

"No, friends for six years and a week," she chided. "But if you insist…" She sat up again.

"No, I-, ah-" he could see Nanami smile slightly and lean back into him.

They sat in silence together. His earlier panic with the blood-stained wedding dress was gone; now he was left with a sort-of… quiet contentment. Hinata noticed suddenly that Nanami's eyes were closed, and her breathing rhythmic- she was sleeping. Carefully, he began to put his arm around her-

-and stopped when the door banged open and Koizumi, tailed by Hiyoko Saionji, stormed in. "Hinata-kun!" Koizumi barked, "You're not taking advantage of Chiaki-chan, are you!?"

"I- no, of course not!" Hinata sputtered.

Nanami awoke, glanced at Koizumi and then at Hinata, and said, "don't worry, Mahiru-chan. I started it." She stood up and held out her hand to Hinata. "Ready to go to the reception?"

"Yeah." Hinata took her hand, and she pulled him up.

"Awh, how _sweet_," Saionji said in a sugary-sweet tone. Then she giggled devilishly. "You're missing the dancing, though."

Koizumi frowned and elbowed her somewhat immature friend. "I know, I know," Saoinji said, "sorry, big sis."

Koizumi and Saonji trooped out, followed by Hinata and Nanami.

It only took them five minutes to reach the reception area, where the dancing had already begun. They could see Komaeda and Sonia whirling about the dance floor to a fast song in Novoselician; other couples had also taken to the dance floor, such as the Masarus, the Togamis, and the king and queen.

As for the rest of the reception area, circling the dance floor were numerous (gray) tables, with dozens of chairs to each table; a large buffet, attended to by Hanamura and his chefs, was along the far wall, all next to a two-tiered wedding cake. A small mountain of presents, all boxes that looked suspiciously like microwave and toaster-oven containers, was on another table by a couple of royal guards. Finally, most of the guests were sitting at the tables, sipping champagne and eating buffet food, or standing in a throng and watching the dancers. Of course, a steady amount of people were joining the floor as well.

Koizumi and Saionji nodded to Nanami and then left for a table. Meanwhile, the song ended. Nanami and Hinata watched as the music shifted to a slow Novoselician song and more people flocked to the floor to slow-dance, while Komaeda and Sonia, at the center of it all, began to slowly dance whilst looking into each other's eyes.

"I'm feeling nauseous," Hinata muttered, "and it's not because of any psychiatric issues."

Nanami giggled, and then said, "let's go get a table, Hajime."

They sat down at the table with the Kirigiris, both of whom were still looking pale. "Oh, good," Kyouko said when she saw Hinata sit down, "I was worried, but I couldn't leave Makoto-"

"I told you, you should've checked on him-" Makoto said wearily, but with a single look from his wife he shut up.

"Anyway, what did Masaru say?" Kyouko said.

"She just wanted me to see her as a shrink," Hinata said. "But seeing as she's in Despair-"

"So is Otonashi," Kyouko said quickly and quietly, "honestly, I'd trust Masaru more than Otonashi. At least Masaru's so low-key in the medical world that I can get her to treat you in a KDL office. Not Otonashi."

Hinata glanced quickly at Nanami, who looked vaguely startled, but decided not to tell the Kirigiris about her suggestions to see Otonashi. "So I should go see her?"

"Yes," Kyouko said. "But only with KDL supervision."

Hinata watched the dancers again. He had half a mind to sweep Nanami off her seat and start dancing with her, but he decided against it. As for Nanami, she stood up and walked off towards the buffet.

"Hinata-san," Makoto said, "you are okay, right?"

"I'm fine, sir," Hinata said stiffly. "I've just had a little shock…"

"The nightmares might return," Kyouko said. Hinata wondered briefly how she knew about them, but he brushed it off. "Hinata-san, you're not the only one with a negative reaction-"

"I know, sir," Hinata said.

Nanami returned to the table, carefully holding four drinks filled with champagne. "Here you go, some drinks," she declared, and placed them all on the table. "I wonder how many people from Hope's Peak there are…"

"I recognize quite a few of them from my days on the selection committee," Kyouko said. "For instance, that's the 'Super High School Level Storyteller', Ma-"

"Wait, sir."

"Yes, Hinata-san?"

"What do you know about Hiroshi Nakejawa?"

Kyouko and Makoto both blinked. Nanami choked on her champagne. "H-hajime," she gasped, "he's just our neighbor-"

"Nakejawa was on the Selection Committee for a year after I joined," Kyouko said. "He was on it until his wife died back during my high-profile corruption scandal."

"And he has a connection to Despair?" Hinata prompted.

Kyouko and Makoto glanced at each other. Then, Makoto said, "We think so, like I told you last night. He used to have contact with Junko Enoshima all the time- he was planning something with her. But she disappeared and he fell from grace…"

"Then why wouldn't Masaru talk about him, when he was willing to talk about organization and such of the Minato cell?" Hinata said.

"He was only telling you things we already knew, I bet," Makoto said.

Hinata nodded. "That was probably it…"

"So, why are you sharing all this with a non-KDL agent?" Nanami asked.

Kyouko simply smiled and said nothing. Then, a quick, catchy Japanese tune came on. "Oh, Kyouko!" Makoto said excitedly, his face coloring in more, "Remember how we used to dance to this-"

"Don't worry, Makoto," Kyouko said, a smile on her lips, "I remember." She stood up, and with one gloved hand she pulled Makoto up and lead him to the dance floor, leaving their champagne untouched and Hinata alone with Nanami again.

"How rude," Nanami huffed, "and after I went through all the trouble, too…"

Fujisaki walked up to the table and sat down. "Hello, Chiaki-san."

"Hello, Chihiro-kun," Nanami said, "but you know I'm not here alone."

Fujisaki sighed. "I know, I know," he said, and he glanced at Hinata. "Hello, Hinata-san."

"Hello, Fujisaki-san."

The two men stared at each other, and then Fujisaki resumed his stare at Nanami. "Thanks for letting me use your shower last night," he said. "Have you seen Tsuji-kun?"

"Saul or Iyatso?" Hinata said.

"Iyatso."

"He's over by the buffet," Nanami said. "Why-"

But Fujisaki was already gone. "Hajime," Nanami said, "please don't blame him, but he said-"

"I know, I know, he confused me with his ex-fiancé," Hinata said. Nanami nodded.

"He hasn't been the same since," she said, staring down into her glass.

Hinata watched her for a moment, and then Kuzuryuu, now by himself, returned. He pulled out a chair next to Hinata and groaned, "I hate plain' the messenger."

"For who?" Nanami said.

"Dr. Otonashi," Kuzuryuu said. "You really should go talk to her, Hinata-kun, it'll do _wonders _for ya." He put his hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Trust me, she'll change your entire viewpoint."

Then he stood up again and wandered off. "Why does he keep doing that?" Nanami said. "I thought you two-"

"He's trying to warn me, I think," Hinata said. The song switched to another slow dance, and he stood up.

"How do you know?" Nanami said, and she stood up as well and offered her hand out. He took it, and together they walked to the dance floor.

"It's not like Kuzuryuu to use honorifics when talking to me, and it's not like him to be concerned about me," Hinata said. They began dancing, albeit somewhat poorly considering the last time they'd danced together was three years ago. At least they got the "one arm on waist, one arm on the shoulder, awkwardly sway" thing down. "I feel like a schoolkid," Hinata commented, as he looked into Nanami's pink eyes.

"We're not the only ones," Nanami said, and she broke contact with Hinata and nodded towards Nidai and Owari dancing equally as slowly, "although that's probably the hangover."

"How does a hangover-"

"Too much alcohol does funny things to people, Hajime," Nanami told him. "You should know that, after-"

"The incident with Ikusaba-san in 2nd year?"

"Yeah, that one. When you started making out with Koizumi because you thought that she was me and Ikusaba-san was so drunk she tried to pull-"

"I don't wanna know," Hinata said quickly. "It's not even relevant, I bet."

Gradually, their dancing improved. They had once danced together for fun, learning for the Kirigiri's wedding, before the incident, and for some reason as the dance continued Hinata felt more confident and more able to actually… dance, turning the two of them at least into a more sweeping kind of waltz by the end of the second dance.

"Hajime-kun," Hinata heard, and he realized that he and Nanami had wound up next to Sonia and Komaeda. "You know that you can't dance with the same person the whole time!" Sonia chided. The song ended, and Sonia and Komaeda split apart. "Here, come dance with me."

Nanami let go of Hinata and took Komaeda's arm. "It's a tradition for the groom to dance with his witnesses and their significant others, you know, Hajime," Komaeda said, and he winked. "I look forward to it."

Hinata sighed, but he began dancing with Sonia. Naturally, she lead. "Wow, Hajime-kun," Sonia said, and Hinata noticed that she had eyes almost the same shade as her dress, "you're doing really well! They teach you dance lessons at the KDL?"

"No, no," Hinata said. He smiled at the compliment. "I guess I'm just a natural."

"Don't let Hiyo-chan hear you saying that!" Sonia said.

They danced a circle around Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama. "So, what're you guys doing for the honeymoon?" Hinata said.

"Off to Novoselic, it's tradition," Sonia said, with a bit of a sour face. Then she brightened up again and said, "but we'll be coming back to Japan after two weeks there, and then we'll spend one week in Hokkaido, and _then _we'll come back to Tokyo!"

"Well, have fun," Hinata said.

"Don't worry. I will," Sonia said cheerfully.

"And what about… them?" Hinata said. He gestured with his head towards Matsuda, who was spinning in circles with Otonashi. Sonia's smile turned into a frown.

"Austria will probably take charge," Sonia said. "Why?"

"Why are you in Despair?" Hinata pressed.

Sonia's smile looked like it was made of wax. "Hajime-kun," she said, "it's none of your business why."

They song ended, and Sonia pulled away and grabbed the royal female witness to begin dancing. "Oh, excellent!" Komaeda said, and he pushed his way past Taeko Togami and Aoi Asahina, "time for the same-sex dance!" Behind him, Hinata saw Nanami bow slightly to Koizumi.

Komaeda grabbed Hinata's arms, positioned them, and then the two began to dance to a quick, upbeat tune (in Novoselician, of course). For having never danced with another man before, Hinata was doing surprisingly well. "So, Hajime, how do you like the wedding?" Komaeda said.

"I didn't like the collapsing in the aisle, but the reception's not bad so far," Hinata said.

"You're just saying that because you got to dance with Chiaki-san, right?"

Hinata sighed. "You know me too well, Komaeda-kun."

"Please, Hajime. It's Nagito to you," Komaeda told him. Out of the corner of his eye, Hinata could see Saionji dancing with Mina and Nidai dancing with Kuzuryuu. Hinata glanced over Komaeda's shoulder and saw Fujisaki dancing with Tanaka. "Something wrong, Hajime?"

"Do you and Sonia know that 'Iyatso Tsuji' is actually Gundam Tanaka?" Hinata said.

Komaeda nodded. "In case you're wondering, Sonia moved past him," he said, "it really disappointed Tanaka-san, but he's willing to do anything, even defy Despair, for her. And his Dark Gods of Destruction, but they're yet to resurrect."

"And Saul Tsuji-"

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru, although I haven't seen him all day," Komaeda said. He frowned. "Could you ask Kirigiri-san to search for him?"

"…maybe."

"Thanks. Anything else, or should we gaze into each other's eyes-"

"You know I'm not interested in you."

Komaeda's smile broadened. "Don't worry, Hajime, I love Sonia more than I love you."

"Yeah, well, thank God for that." Hinata considered a question- any question- and then asked, "you call Nanami-san Number Four, but not around me?"

Komaeda smiled. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to talk about that," he said pompously, with the faintest touch of amusement, "so sorry. Next question."

Hinata frowned. Who would be ordering him…? "How about Hiroshi Nakejawa?"

"He's not really allied with me or Masaru-san," Komaeda said. "I don't think she's even really trying to get him on her side, because I know-"

"Wait. She?"

"Yes, she. Minako Masaru, number two of Despair in the Minato ward, alias Austria," Komaeda said dismissively. "I thought you already knew that?"

But Hinata's blood had run cold. Masaru had acted as if he was number two, but it was _Mina _who had the gun, and if she was number two, then… "We've been letting her slip away since I started work here-" Hinata whispered.

Komaeda's smile widened. "Don't you understand your real job now, Hajime? I certainly do. Those Monoscopes are so useful-"

"Because those Monobears let you see everything, right?" Hinata said.

Komaeda nodded.

"Then what about Nakejawa?"

"He's called Netherlands, but he's kind of a wild card when it comes to Despair politics. Austria's got Owari and Masaru pretty firm in her pocket, and I have my lovely wife and the 'Tsuji's on my side, so I'm not worried."

The song stopped, and Hinata let go of Komaeda. He had to go find his boss. "Wait, Hajime, you shouldn't rush off-"

But Hinata was off the dance floor in seconds, scanning the crowd for Kyouko Kirigiri's distinctive purple hair. He found her sitting at a table with Togami. "But Romney _does _owe me a favor, maybe he'll overlook more nuclear weapons…" Togami was saying when Hinata arrived and sat down next to Kyouko.

"I don't think the Americans will let you have _more _nuclear weapons, Togami-kun," Kyouko said. She looked at Hinata. "Yes, Hinata-san?"

"Did you know that the second-in-command of Minato is my sister, not Ryotsa Masaru?" Hinata demanded.

Kyouko nodded. "Then why didn't you…" And then, all at once, he realized why: by watching the apartment, he would give the impression that KDL was ignorant of Mina's role. They would make Masaru out to be a bigger threat than he really was and let her go about her business, unimpeded by KDL and also by Despair.

He was protecting Mina on accident.

"Sir," he said, standing up, "I-I need to think-"

"Everything I do has a reason, Hinata-san," Kyouko said as he walked away, "remember that."

And if he was protecting Mina, then that meant that the traitor was also Mina. Which, of course, meant that her warning about Otonashi could probably be trusted. He stalked through the crowd, but halted when someone put her hand on his shoulder.

"Hajime, this is Dr. Otonashi," Nanami said. Behind her stood the red-haired woman who was with Matsuda, who had a very large smile plastered on her face. "She wanted to see you-"

And then Mina emerged from the crowd. "Sorry, doctor, but I'm treating my brother, not you," she said aggressively. She grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled him onto the dance floor, forcing him into a dance. "That woman's pure poison," she said, "everything she says leads into despair in some way." She leveled a stare at Hinata and said, "and I wouldn't trust Nanami-san either. If she was willing to bring Otonashi to you, there's a good chance she's in Despair too."

Hinata felt as if Mina'd slapped him. He pulled away from her. "Thank you for the concern-" he began to say, when Mina pulled him back in again.

"Listen up," she hissed, "they've already noticed what I am. I'm leaving with Ryo tonight. _Please_, just distract Nanami and Nakejawa. I know the latter's in Despair, and the former probably is too. Also, watch out for Germany: once I'm gone, he's in charge. And whoever he is, he has a _lot _of power with the bosses."

Mina deposited Hinata at the edge of the dance floor and then she reentered the crowd. Hinata looked around, and then headed for the restroom.

He was washing his hands when he heard the door creak open. He glanced up and saw Matsuda. "Kamukura-san," Matsuda said, letting the door swing shut, "I see you're starting to emerge again."

"You must be mistaken," Hinata said stonily, "my name is Hajime Hinata."

He pushed past Matsuda and left the restroom. "Oh, I know, Hinata-san," Matsuda called after him, "but the process has already begun!" And then he began to laugh.

Matsuda's ringing laughter stayed with Hinata long after he exited the restroom, and lasted through the rest of the reception. The usual wedding stuff happened, and by the end of the night, the Prince-Consort and Princess Nevermind were now the proud owners of thirty microwave ovens, a television, three cribs, sixteen vacuum cleaners, and a waffle iron; the cake was delicious, as expected from Hanamura's cooking; and the reception ended with Hinata and Nanami sitting at a table with the Masarus, Nanami asleep on Hinata's shoulder, her mouth hanging open ever-so-slightly.

"Thank you, everyone, and my apologies to the young man who collapsed from the salute!" the king said. People began to pick up their jackets and sweaters, and left, generally talking amongst themselves, some slightly drunk, others dead tired. The Masarus gave a curt goodbye to Hinata and Nanami, and Hinata roused Nanami from her slumber.

"Are we going now, Hajime?" Nanami said, and she stretched, yawned, and put her head back on Hinata's shoulder as the two of them watched the Masarus walk away.

"Yeah, I think so," Hinata said.

"Feeling better?"

"Yes."

They got up and left the reception area, hand in hand, said their goodbyes to Sonia and Komaeda at the door, and left for the apartment.

* * *

Hinata was out on the balcony of the apartment, watching the city. Rain was falling. He had changed out of his suit into bedclothes, and was just waiting for Nakejawa to emerge for his nightly smoke.

Nakejawa's door opened. "Hinata-kun," he drawled, "so nice to see ya 'gain."

Hinata glanced at Nakejawa, who held up a gun that glinted in the artificial light. "Too bad command's been screwed up." He took a step forward, and then another. "First Britain and France leave on their honeymoon, now Austria and Spain are traitors. And Germany- no one knows what's up with Germany. Point is, command's really confused, so if a protected person mysteriously dies in the crossfire, oh well."

He was now only about a meter away from Hinata. "Hinata-kun, I really regret making you a member of the 79th class," Nakejawa said, "and I'm afraid Xiong Nu's given the order. Goodnight… Izuru Kamukura."

* * *

**A/N: And welcome to the next act. As always, post a review for any questions or comments!**


	11. Awakening

**A/N: Everything I write has a purpose. Also, a bit of a warning: some offensive language inside. No more than Kuzuryuu, at least.**

* * *

The sound of gunfire filled the night, but it was not from Nakejawa: Hinata's glass door shattered in an instant, and Nanami stepped out onto the balcony, Hinata's gun in her hands. She was pointing it at Nakejawa.

"Gun possession will get you in jail, Nanami-san," Nakejawa said. He kept his gun leveled at Hinata. "One more shot, he dies."

"Don't worry, Netherlands," Nanami said, "the same goes for you."

The three stood on the balcony: Nanami, dressed in her nightgown with a still-smoking gun, staring determinedly at Nakejawa; Nakejawa, dressed in a dirty suit, looking between Hinata and Nanami, his gun still leveled at Hinata; Hinata, dressed in his bedclothes, with one hand on the railing and one hand at his side.

Overhead, they heard another gunshot, and then another. "Sounds like Athens and Sparta are eliminating the traitors," Nakejawa sneered.

"The Masarus?" Hinata said.

"Yes, and as soon as they arrive, you two'll be dead for defying Despair," Nakejawa said.

They heard a scream and something fell past the balcony. Then there was another gunshot, and then another one. And then the building shuddered when a dull _thud _went off, and bits of steel, glass, and concrete rained down.

The wind picked up, and the rain began being blown onto the balcony. "Sounds like they had to use the bombs," Nakejawa said. "Shame. I hoped to use it to get rid of your body."

"And you think you can escape from justice?" demanded Nanami.

Nakejawa smirked. "I have Enoshima on my side. Do you really think she'll let me die?"

"If you kill Izuru Kamukura, then you can bet she will," Nanami snapped.

But Nakejawa burst into a sort of wheezing laughter, although his gun stayed pointed at Hinata's chest. "That's only according to Persia! No one knows what the queen of Despair herself has to say though!" Nakejawa shouted.

The wail of sirens sounded through the night. "So, Nakejawa, you know that I'm Izuru Kamukura?" Hinata said. He had to delay Nakejawa long enough for the police to arrest him.

"Know?" Nakejawa said. He snorted. "I helped _make _you, boy! I was the one who arranged for the Ultimate Hope project to go forward, _I _was the one who pushed for you to enter the Main Course, _I _was the one who ordered the death of your parents after the operation when you overpowered Kamukura, _I _was the one who covered up Despair's killings until I fell from power! Not Persia, not Rome, not Greece, not even Germany or Xiong Nu! It was me, all of it me!"

He had a wild, savage look in his eyes, the kind you only saw in men so far gone they'd become more animal than man. "It was me, it was all me, but no, that goddamn headmaster got me sacked and then that useless excuse for a woman had to go and die on me in the worst possible way-" he spat.

"You didn't kill your wife?" Hinata said.

"No, I had nothing to do with it," Nakejawa said. "She was killed by Mukuro Ikusaba, but not on my orders. She killed her to get her out of the way, since my wife opposed Kamukura."

"You're a disgusting human being," Nanami said coldly.

Nakejawa smiled. "I try," he said, "anymore questions, Kamukura?"

"Why did your _project _fail?" Hinata said.

"Because I put you in the wrong place," Nakejawa said. "The Reserve Course was filled with despair, or at least Enoshima made sure it would, but I put you in with the Main Course because I thought that you would be easier to control. But no, you had that white-haired bastard who was in _love _with you and that pink-haired bitch you called your girlfriend all your other goddamn little friends there to make sure you didn't let Kamukura take charge."

He spat onto the ground, his gun still pointed at Hinata, while Hinata breathed deeply in an attempt to stave off the anger. Nanami, meanwhile, just kept looking coldly at Hinata.

"I _am _that 'pink-haired bitch', Netherlands," Nanami said. "It wouldn't be hard to pull the trigger. You were lucky that I missed you through the door."

"Ooh, did I hurt your little _feelings_, Nanami?" Nakejawa said. "And yours too, Kamukura?"

Hinata clenched harder onto the railing, but he could feel himself trembling. "It's sad, isn't it?" added Nakejawa, almost casually, "I tell you that I tried to turn you into a monster, that I killed your family, hid your sister, got rid of the traitors, been sent to kill you, but I insult your girlfriend and now you're all angry?" He laughed.

"No, Netherlands," Hinata spat. He took a step towards Netherlands, but Netherlands simply shook his head, still smirking.

"Ah, ah, ah, Kamukura. One more step, you die," Netherlands taunted.

"Yet you haven't shot me yet," Hinata said. "You're afraid."

Netherlands cocked his head. "Oh?"

"You're a coward," Hinata said. As if to prove it, he took another step forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nanami adjust the angle of her gun to face Netherlands as he took another step back. "You're a coward who helped make a superweapon that now your bosses want back. And you're trying to get rid of me because as soon as they have me you're useless."

"What makes you say that?" Netherlands said. Hinata took another step forward, and he took another step back. "How would you know anything about Despair?"

"Because Matsuda wants me for something, doesn't he? Why else would he keep calling me out on who I am? And you said yourself I'm not to be touched," Hinata said. "You said yourself that Persia wants me. I'd bet that Persia and Matsuda are even the same people. But if I die, you die too. And you can bet that Xiong Nu will tell them think you acted on your own because you were afraid of the KDL agent on your doorstep."

"It'll be a cell boss's word against yours, Netherlands," Nanami added.

Netherlands' composure was slipping. Sweat was beading up, and he yelped a little when he stumbled slightly. "Kamukura," he panted, "I-"

"You're afraid of killing me because if you do, you're dead, and you know that, don't you?" Hinata said. He rushed forward and tackled Netherlands, sending his gun off into the night, and sending Netherlands down onto the ground. "You're weak," Hinata spat, "that's all you are."

Then he grabbed Netherlands' head and slammed it against the ground. "Chiaki," Hinata said, turning his back on Netherlands, "my gun, please."

She walked over from the window and was about to give it to Hinata when they heard Netherlands groan, "congratulations, Kamukura… I w-woke you up."

One of Netherlands' doors slid open and Mina appeared. "Hajime, Nanami, are you-" she looked at Netherlands, then at Nanami and her gun, and then at Hinata. "Good, he's out, Kirigiri can arrest him. Hajime, I have to go, do _not _trust Otonashi."

She looked over her shoulder, and then back at Hinata. "The Monobears are awake, but it's only the big ones that explode!" she yelled. Then she retreated back into the apartment, the large shadow of Masaru tailing behind her.

Nanami shut the door and turned to Hinata. "What should we do about Nakejawa?" she said.

Hinata looked back at Nakejawa. "Go get me some rope," Hinata ordered. She complied, and a few minutes later, they'd tied him to the railing, and stood as silent sentinels until Kirigiri arrived to arrest Nakejawa.

"Good job," she said, "Hinata-san, Nanami-san. Go get some sleep." Behind her, two KDL agents picked up Nakejawa by his legs and arms and pulled him through the door, still unconscious.

"The first thing we do," Hinata said when they reentered the apartment through Hinata's room's shattered door, "is get rid of all the Monobears. They need me, so they'll let me get rid of them."

"Right," the pink-haired girl- Nanami- said. They took only ten minutes to pack up all the little Monobears they could find, bind them with some of Hinata's belts and ties, and put them next to the on-site KDL agents to bring back with them as they left for the night. When they were done, they agreed to meet in the TV room.

Hinata looked around the room, pondering everything he saw. He wondered how the couch had been made, he wondered how to quickly clean their slightly-grimy table, he wondered how best to beat that girl in a game- any game- besides a dating sim. The world was now teeming with possibilities… this all seemed vaguely familiar-

The pink-haired girl entered the room. "Hajime, is something wrong?" she said. She was very pretty, and Hinata began wondering what he could _do _with her…

And then something inside of him said, "that's Chiaki Nanami. You've known her for nine years. Cut that out!"

He blinked, and then things were back to normal. "Chi-chiaki-san?" he said.

"Why," she said, and she brushed past him, "are you standing in the door?"

"I- I, um… you were very brave," he said, trying to regain face.

Nanami smiled. "I know I was," she said, "but I wasn't trying to be complimented. I was trying to save your life."

"T-thanks," he said. His face was probably turning red- he felt like a schoolboy all over again.

He took a seat next to Nanami, and then yawned widely. "It's been a busy day, hasn't it," she said. He nodded. She snuggled into him, and they both stared at the blank TV. "And you can't stay in your room with the rainstorm…"

"We could rig up a way to make sure no one can sneak in through my room," offered Hinata. Nanami nodded, but he could see her already starting to fall asleep. "Why are you-"

"I haven't been getting much sleep lately," she muttered. "Hold still…"

Hinata sighed. "Please, Chiaki-san, it's been a busy day…"

"Fine," Nanami replied. She got up, and brushed herself off. "Let's make that barricade."

The barricade, as it were, was just a chair wedged under the door handle. "We only have one gun, too," Hinata said, staring at it. He glanced at the TV room. "If you need me, I'll be in there," he said, nodding at the room.

He took a step towards it before Nanami put her hand on his shoulder. "Hajime," she said, "we only have one gun, and you need your sleep. You're in my room tonight."

Hinata felt as if he was on fire, and almost instantly the thoughts lurking at the back of his mind regarding the episode at the wedding, Nakejawa, Otonashi, Matsuda, Xiong Nu, Germany, and Izuru Kamukura were obliterated. "Y-you what?" he squeaked.

Nanami sighed and pulled him towards her room. "I'm sorry, Hajime, but I don't feel safe without a gun right after what happened with Nakejawa," she said. She stopped in front of her room and opened it. "Please?"

"I-I-I-" Hinata said; his mind had now drifted back to the last time they'd shared a bed-

Nanami rolled her eyes. "Nothing like _that_ is going to happen, Hajime," Nanami said, although her face was tinting red as well. "Okay? It's just nice, platonic… sleep."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the room. His other hand held his gun. The door swung shut.

Nanami lead him over to her bed and, together, they wriggled under the covers. Nanami switched off the light, and Hinata hid the gun in the bedside table. "Chiaki," Hinata said, glancing at her, "I'm sorry for snapping at you at the wedding."

"You were distraught," Nanami said amicably. "I… I understand." She pressed herself into him and her hand curled around his. "Hajime, I have a question. Do you…" she took a deep breath, and then said, "Hajime, do you still love me?"

Hinata thought for a minute how to respond, and then hugged her tightly, putting his head on her shoulder, and said, "There were times in America when some cute girl would approach me and start flirting and all that. But then I'd tell them that… well, I still loved someone else, even if we could never be together again. Then we talked a little, and went on our ways."

Nanami slipped free and let Hinata's head fall on the pillow, all seemingly so that she could look into his eyes. "I didn't think you wouldn't," she whispered, "you always seemed like the clingy type."

"I-I'm sorry," Hinata said, looking away from her.

And then she hugged him tightly. "Hajime," she said into his ear, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Then she brought her head up to Hinata's and kissed him. It was short and tender, but nonetheless it caused warmth to blossom through Hinata's entire body. "C-chiaki!" he said when it was over. "I-I didn't mean to-"

"Do what? Make me fall in love with you again? All we're doing is going back to what we used to be, aren't we…?" she said. She kissed him again, more aggressively, and after a moment, he responded enthusiastically...

* * *

Hinata was at a wedding. Nakejawa and a shapeless creature were getting married. Hinata was best man… a blood-soaked Nanami was the witness. And the priest was Hinata as well but his eyes were… red.

Hinata looked out at the crowd. There was the Kirigiris, Byakuya Togami, and a portrait of the American President… on the other aisle, there was the bodies of Komaeda and Sonia, Otonashi and Matsuda, Mina and Ryotsa Masaru, Nidai and Owari, the Kuzuryuus and Pekoyama.

Hinata returned his attention to the wedding procession. Minister Hinata was talking in warped Novoselician, and Nakejawa's face had vanished, replaced with the Netherlands. Hinata looked back at the Despair crowd, and now he saw that Mina's face was Austria, Masaru was Spain, Komaeda was Britain, and Sonia was France…

And then he turned his attention back to the wedding procession again, and now Nanami's face was flickering between her normal face and a question mark, while Minister Hinata's hair was growing longer and whiter and his eyes even redder…

And then he heard the doors open, and a black-and-white bear, tailed by Fujisaki, Ishimaru, and Tanaka, waltzed down the aisle with another black-and-white bear. "Did ya miss me, ya bastard!?" all five said at once, and then both Monobears exploded, and he heard blasts going off and the ceiling was shuddering that walls were on fire and-

Hinata opened his eyes, breathing heavily, his nightmare over. He groaned and put a hand to his forehead. He felt clammy, and he probably looked pale. He shifted slightly, and felt Nanami shift against him. She stirred. "Hajime-" she groaned.

"Jus'- just a nightmare," he said. The storm raged outside, and fumbled for his phone in the darkness. "4 AM, sorry for waking you…"

"It's fine, I'd be waking in a few hours anyway," she said. She sat up, and her blankets fell, revealing her bare back. Then she blinked and quickly sunk back under the covers. "S-sorry-"

"It's just us," Hinata pointed out. As if to prove it, he sat up and let his sheet fall. "Besides, the only light we've got is from the lightning…"

Nanami sighed and also sat up, letting the sheet fall again. "What was the nightmare about?"

He sighed and leaned into her. "It was just… I was at a wedding, and Nakejawa was marrying something, and-"

His phone buzzed in the darkness. "Do you have to answer it?" Nanami groaned, "it's too early for this…"

But Hinata ignored her and picked it up. "Hajime Hinata," he said, putting it on speakerphone.

"Wasn't expecting to get you," they heard Makoto Kirigiri say. "I want you at the apartment of Chihiro Fujisaki tomorrow morning, 7 AM, bring Nanami-san with you-"

"Why?" Nanami said instantly.

Makoto was silent for a moment, then said, "I won't ask why she's in the same room as you at four AM, but you'll find out in the morning." He took a deep breath, said, "it'll just be a little investigation, but bring your gun just in case." The call terminated.

Hinata put his phone away and laid back down. "Wanna go back to sleep?" he said.

"Sure," Nanami said, and she laid back down next to him. "Do you think something happened to Chihiro-kun?"

"He's probably fine," Hinata said. "Trust me- it'll be open and shut. We'll be done and you won't miss work."

She nestled her head on his shoulder. "I hope you're right," she said, "I hope this nightmare'll be over soon."

"Yeah," he said, although now his mind was really more on Nanami than it was on the case. "I hope so too."

* * *

**A/N: Questions? Comments? Concerns? Review! **

**Three weeks or so left in-story.**


	12. Xiong Nu

**A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! Hopefully this chapter will answer some of the questions about Despair and Kamukura.**

* * *

On the way to Fujisaki's apartment, Kirigiri filled them in on the details.

Last night, at the former apartment of Hifumi Yamada, a burnt car with Fujisaki's fingerprints and the corpse of Kiyotaka Ishimaru was found. The forensic evidence suggested that he'd been killed late at night on the 25th, the day before the wedding, and forensic evidence also pointed to Chihiro Fujisaki, who had been seen with Ishimaru (alias Saul Tsuji) the last day of his life.

Fujisaki, that Ultimate Programmer who began developing the revolutionary AI "Alter Ego" ten years ago, lived in the Shibuya ward, at a building called La Tour Shibuya, floor 14. "The security here happens to include some KDL work," Kirigiri said as the three boarded an elevator, "Aoi Asahina's renting out an apartment to the newly-homeless Hifumi Yamada, and she's paying for security. Hiyoko Saionji also lives here."

"How nice of Asahina-san," Nanami commented.

"I gave her a discount," Kirigiri replied, as if that answered the question.

The elevator slid to a stop and the doors opened. The fourteenth floor was empty, so it did not take them long to find the Fujisaki apartment. Nanami knocked on the door, and Fujisaki opened the door slightly. "Chiaki-san… oh, and Kirigiri-san too."

He opened the door up wider, and let in Kirigiri and Nanami before he tried to shut the door on Hinata. Nanami grabbed the door, however, and let Hinata in. Hinata mumbled his thanks and moved to stand next to Kirigiri.

"Fujisaki-kun," Kirigiri said as soon as Fujisaki shut the door, "I have some questions-"

"Follow me," Fujisaki said, and he walked to the end of the hall and opened a door on the left side.

The door opened up into a combination living-dining room, much larger than Nanami's, which had a white wicker table jammed against the right-most window, a television mounted on the back wall opposite a pristine-looking couch, and all manner of computer parts and monitors and technology scattered around the room. The television was currently on the news, but Fujisaki shut it off, and he pulled the chair away from the table to sit opposite from the couch, where Kirigiri, Hinata, and Nanami were sitting.

Fujisaki and Kirigiri didn't say anything, but Nanami nudged Hinata and nodded to a shelf next to the television holding a flickering monitor and all sorts of computer equipment. Nothing seemed to be out-of-place… when he saw a little Monobear poking its head out from on top of the monitor.

"Fujisaki-san," Kirigiri said, "you are aware of why we are here?"

Fujisaki nodded. "Ishimaru-kun again?"

"Partly," Kirigiri said lightly. "Both him and Iyatso Tsuji."

Fujisaki's eyes widened. "I-I don't know where Tsuji went-"

He cut himself off when one of Kirigiri's eyebrows arched. "How did you know that I was going to ask that?" she said.

Fujisaki gulped and mumbled, "it seemed obvious."

"Very well," Kirigiri said, and she continued, "Fujisaki-san, do you know who Tsuji-san was?"

"H-he was just an opera singer, right?" Fujisaki said.

"He was the Ultimate Animal Breeder Gundam Tanaka, Chihiro-kun," Nanami said. She sounded uncomfortable, and she was fidgeting. "Didn't you recognize him?"

Kirigiri glanced at Nanami quickly, while Hinata nodded. "Fujisaki-san, you were with him for the entire wedding. You were even looking for him," Hinata said, "clearly, you spent some time around Tanaka."

"And what would make you think I would recognize an underclassmen from four years ago?" Fujisaki said softly.

"Fair enough," Kirigiri said, "then why were you so interested in him at the wedding?"

"M-maybe I was just interested in him! Is it a crime to be gay!?" Fujisaki squeaked.

"No, it's not, Fujisaki-kun, and I have no intention of making this into an issue regarding your sexuality," Kirigiri said coldly, "so don't try fishing for sympathy."

Fujisaki squirmed in his seat. "Kirigiri-san-"

"Fujisaki-kun, where were at 23:00 on the 25th of September?" Kirigiri demanded.

"I-I was-" Fujisaki said, "I was at the party-"

"No you weren't," Hinata said. "You were at Chiaki-san's apartment, in the shower."

Fujisaki's eyes darted towards Hinata, and he paled. "N-no I wasn't-"

"No, you were," Nanami said. "I remember the time you called."

Kirigiri glanced at Nanami again and then back at Fujisaki. "Fujisaki-kun, why have you been lying to us?"

Fujisaki gulped. "My mind slipped-"

"Fujisaki," Kirigiri said, and her voice was very icy, "would that explain the blood I found in Nanami-san's shower drain?"

"That's impossible!" said Fujisaki, "the body was strangled-"

And then he stopped himself, but not before Nanami gasped. "Chihiro-kun," she whispered, "you killed…"

"T-they told me!" Fujisaki said, his face now paler than Kirigiri's, "it was your people-"

"No news of Kiyotaka Ishimaru's death or even how was he killed was leaked, Fujisaki," Kirigiri said.

"Which means the only way you could know about it is if you're the murderer-" Hinata said.

"-or a Monobear controller," Nanami interjected. She sounded like she was trying to fake enthusiasm.

For the third time, Kirigiri glanced at Nanami, as did Fujisaki (wide-eyed), and even Hinata himself. "Nanami-san, are you accusing your cousin of being in Despair?" Kirigiri said.

"Better than being a murderer," she said. There was a hard edge to her voice.

"Regardless, back to Tanaka," Kirigiri said. "Assuming that you are part of Despair, then you should know full well who Tanaka was."

"I don't think he would, actually, boss," Hinata said. "Tanaka seemed scared of the Monobear at the party."

Kirigiri frowned and thought for a moment. "I see," she muttered. Then she said, more clearly, and Hinata noticed that she had one hand on her gun, "in any case, I have a hypothesis for you."

"Chihiro Fujisaki, I believe that you killed Kiyotaka Ishimaru, in his apartment. You killed him, and then fled to your cousin's apartment probably because the killing was unintended. When you were done with your shower, when you were done plotting in there, you returned to the apartment, smuggled Ishimaru down to his car, and drove out to the burnt-out apartment complex to dump it there. You then lit the car on fire, but the fire did not burn everything.

"On the way, however, you were spotted by two witnesses: Gundam Tanaka, and Hajime Hinata. Now, this is based on pure speculation until we find Tanaka, of course, but please, humor me. Hinata saw you coming out of the shower. He also works for KDL, and would no doubt know about you being a suspect- after all, security footage would feature you prominently."

Fujisaki gulped again. He was now as pale as the white half of the Monobear, and he was staring, wide-eyed, transfixed at Kirigiri. "It can't be…" he whispered hoarsely.

"Continuing," Kirigiri said, "during the wedding, the real reason that you spent so much time with Tanaka was so that you could find out if he saw anything. And if he did-"

"-you killed him," Hinata finished. "And if you have a connection to-"

And then Hinata paused, a terrible thought striking him. _Who's Xiong Nu? He's the boss of the Shibuya cell_. Hinata looked at Fujisaki. Everything began falling into place.

"Is something wrong, Hajime?" Nanami whispered. She put one of her hands on his leg.

"Unless you're- Xiong Nu," Hinata said.

Fujisaki's eyes sprang open and he leapt to his feet, but Kirigiri quickly grabbed him and forced him back down. "I-I'm innocent!" he whimpered, "I'm just scared-"

"It all makes sense," Hinata said. He stood up as well. "Nakejawa said that Xiong Nu ordered him to kill me, even though there was a ban on harming Kamukura. Masaru told me that Xiong Nu was the cell boss of Shibuya, where you live, and that he was on the game planning committee. And Komaeda told me that his little Monoscope device worked based on the Monobears-"

"The ones you gave me!" Nanami said. She put a hand over her mouth, in shock.

"Since you're an 'Ultimate Programmer' and work so much with technology, you knew that even the most paranoid of us wouldn't bother to check for bugs or such if you'd checked it first," Kirigiri said, "or at least, that's what happened with Makoto and I."

"And me and Chiaki-san," Hinata added. He did not include that he had brought up the idea of Fujisaki sending bugged bears with Nanami, but she did not comment either.

"In any case, you were the one handing out the Monobears in at least two instances. You probably have a connection to the monitor Makoto described in Nidai's house too, now that I think about it," Kirigiri said.

"And that explains why Tanaka was so scared after the bachelor's party," Hinata said, and he could feel himself slipping back into that realm of possibilities from last night, "he knew that Ishimaru was Saul Tsuji, and if you found out through your Monobears that he was Gundam Tanaka, then you might make the connection-"

"I think you're reaching on that one, Hajime-kun," Nanami interjected.

But Hinata was too… excited to stop. He felt somewhat lightheaded, but he was not swaying. Everything was becoming _clear_. The brown-haired murder stared at him with wide eyes. "I-I-what are you talking about?" he squeaked.

The purple-haired woman with one of her hands on her… gun said, "Hinata-san, are you fine?"

"Hinata?" Hinata said, "That has no bearing on the case." He pulled out his own gun and aimed it at the brunet's head. "Tell us. What is your connection."

The purple-haired woman- _"that's your boss, Kyouko Kirigiri"_- whipped out her own gun.

"Put it down, Hinata!" Kirigiri shouted.

"Tell us your connection!" Hinata snarled at the murderer- _"that's Chihiro Fujisaki, Chiaki-san's cousin"_.

"Stop this right now!" roared Kirigiri. Nanami grabbed Hinata's arm and tried to pull the gun away from her cousin's head.

"Please, Hajime-"

"Don't bother me," Hinata snapped. "Now, Fujisaki! Tell me!"

Fujisaki was now crying, no doubt due to fear, while Kirigiri shouted instructions at Hinata. Hinata's head began throbbing as Nanami pulled the gun arm away from Fujisaki and pointed it towards the monitor.

The throbbing intensified. "Fujisaki…" Hinata hissed. A jackhammer was running in his head, and he clapped his hands to the side of his head.

"I admit it!" screeched Fujisaki, and he jumped out of his seat and began scrambling for the door. He didn't get very far, since Kirigiri was able to grab the back of his neck. "K-kirigiri-san, I don't want to die!"

The aching died away, although Hinata felt terrible. He looked at his gun and holstered it, and then shuddered and sank into Fujisaki's sofa. Someone sat down next to him and put a shaking arm around him. "It's not your fault, Hajime," she whispered; her voice was quivering, and her arm felt clammy.

He looked up and saw that Fujisaki had sat down in his chair again, and Kirigiri had put her gun away. "Tell me what happened," she said.

Fujisaki glanced at Hinata and then at the floor. "I was… I was kept in the dark about Kiyo-kun joining Despair," he whispered, "probably because they knew I'd act this way… that they knew _it _would be able to tell me to kill him."

"What's it?" Kirigiri said.

Fujisaki glanced up and, with a shaking finger, pointed at a set of double-doors. "It's in there," he whispered. Then he continued, "anyway, I found out Komaeda's bachelor party that Saul Tsuji was Kiyo-kun. His usual disguise must've slipped- I'd seen Tsuji fine enough before- but this time, I saw him for who he was. Probably because I fought with- fought with _him_-" and he shuddered, "and he… reminded me of Kiyo-kun."

Hinata swallowed thickly and looked away. Two people afraid of him…

"And then?" prompted Kirigiri.

"I-I convinced him to bring me to his apartment. We left early, and while we were there, one of the M-monobears convinced me to… get revenge," Fujisaki said. His voice was nothing but a hoarse whisper, as if he were ashamed of what he'd done.

_Or_, something inside Hinata said, _he's ashamed of being caught_. He looked down, and another headache flared up, but as soon as Hinata winced in pain Nanami held him tighter, causing it to recede.

"A-anyway," Fujisaki said, and Hinata glanced up to see him staring warily at him. Then Fujisaki resumed his gaze at the floor. "I called Chiaki-san and asked her if I could use her shower. I made it sound like I was drunk, like when I was talking to your-your husband," he said. He glanced at Kirigiri at the last part.

She nodded. "Makoto wouldn't have the right machine with him," she commented. "Continue."

"I didn't know that Hinata went home early with Kirigiri-kun," Fujisaki said. "So I was surprised to see him at Chiaki-san's place, and all through the wedding I thought that maybe he'd make the connection."

"So you gave the order to kill me?" Hinata said, "And Nakejawa said the others-"

"During the wedding, Persia told me that Germany had been… 'emotionally compromised', and as their designated replacement, I was to take charge temporarily over Minato until a suitable… replacement, could be found," Fujisaki said. "But I- I ordered Netherlands to kill Kamukura while Athens and Sparta killed Austria and Spain on Persia's orders."

"And Tanaka-kun?" whispered Nanami. Behind them, a door creaked slightly open, but Hinata did not look over at it.

"T-tanaka saw me in Kiyo-kun's car," Fujisaki said. "So I sat next to him and tried to find out what he knew. He refused to talk. So I… so I…"

"So you killed him," finished Kirigiri.

Fujisaki gave a very tiny nod. Tears began welling up again. "I was scared, and Monobear told me here that it was my only choice!" Fujisaki cried, "And Tanaka was supposed to die anyway since it'd be bad news for Despair once it turned out he hadn't died in prison…"

"Since then we would know that someone might've helped him escape," Kirigiri said.

Fujisaki gave another almost imperceptible nod. "I brought Tanaka home. I have Saionji's keys since I'm her boss in Despair, so I strangled Tanaka with one of her kimonos and then hanged him in her shower. She hasn't come back yet."

"I'll send someone to check," Kirigiri said. "Hinata-san, will you?"

Nanami let go of Hinata, and Hinata noticed that she was as pale as her cousin. He made his way towards the door ("the keys are in one of my shoes in the hall") when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye: a Monobear, slumped against the door.

"Boss," he said, pulling his gun out. "We have trouble-"

The Monobear's eyes flashed red and it stood up. A horrible, squeaky noise emanated from it, as it said, "I guess there's no fooling you, Kamukura-san!"

Then it began laughing. But not an ordinary laugh, but a bizarre "upupupu" laugh that sounded… inhuman. "Hinata, shoot it," Kirigiri ordered.

He complied, but the bullet seemed to have no effect. "And now, Fujisaki," Monobear said, "you have been caught and have admitted to your guilt!"

"You told me to kill them!" screamed Fujisaki. He stood up quickly, knocking over his chair, and ran towards the entrance hall. Kirigiri didn't try to stop him. "You need me!" he yelled, "take them! Take Kamukura, take that traitor, take Kirigiri, just don't kill me!"

"I remember when you were brave," Monobear continued, its voice rising above the din of Hinata's gun. Nanami had her hands clapped over her ears, and Kirigiri had pulled out her own gun and started firing into Monobear. The bullets impacted its eyes and punched right through it, but still, it narrated: "But now you've fallen. Your man's promise went unfulfilled. And now- execution!"

It roared with laughter, and then stuck one of its arms out. A handcuff on a chain shot out and grabbed Fujisaki by the arm, and then whipped him towards Monobear. Another bullet slammed through Monobear's head, and the laughter stopped; its eyes began dimming, but not before-

There was a piercing sound, and something red began streaming down Fujisaki's front, ruining his dress. A large, blood-covered spike was sticking out of his chest, his pale face holding only shock. Monobear continued to twitch in silent laughter, but its eyes were dimming.

There was a wail and Nanami rushed forward, pushing Hinata to the side and pulling her cousin off of the Monobear's arm-spear. She began frantically checking the pulse but when it was clear that Fujisaki was dead, she broke down, sobbing.

Hinata, who was now trembling, sunk down next to Nanami. Fujisaki, the man who murdered two people, was now nothing more than a cruel parody of his boyhood self. "Chihiro-kun!" sobbed Nanami, and her own dress was getting soaked with blood as she held onto Fujisaki and cried.

Hinata, at a loss as to what to do, looked at Kirigiri. Kirigiri simply shook her head and moved over to the Monobear. She picked it up and nodded to Hinata. "Come with me," she said, "quickly. And we can't leave Nanami-san here alone."

Hinata nodded and shifted slightly. He put his hand on Nanami's shoulder. "Chiaki-san, there's a bomb in the Monobear," he said, softly, "we need you to come with us-"

"Why did you bring me!?" she snarled, glaring up at Hinata. Tears were streaming down her face, and her cheeks had regained some of their color. "Why!?"

Kirigiri pressed a button on her phone. "Monobear would've killed him even if you weren't here, Nanami-san," Kirigiri said, "Fujisaki-kun used to be a friend of mine. But at the same time… the Chihiro-kun I knew would never've killed three people and ordered the death of another."

She did not sound compassionate, and Nanami glared harder at her. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd let me _die _that night," she hissed.

Kirigiri looked away. "That's a lie, and you know it, Nanami-san," Kirigiri said. "All you would've done by dying would be driving Fujisaki-kun into the arms of Enoshima even faster."

A KDL agent- Reiko Honda, now head of the KDL Domestic Affairs division- appeared in the room. "Sir!" she said. Her eyes flickered quickly to Hinata, and a familiar look of disgust surfaced, but it disappeared when she looked back at Kirigiri and saluted. "Your orders?"

"Keep an eye on Nanami-san until the police and the paramedics arrive," Kirigiri said. "Hinata-san and I will bring this bomb downstairs so that the police and defuse it." She motioned to Hinata and picked up the sparking Monobear. It was surprisingly heavy for a teddy bear.

Leaving Nanami crying over her cousin, Hinata and Kirigiri descended back to the ground floor. "Evacuate the building until the bomb's cleared up," she said to one of her security personnel, who nodded. "We'll wait in the lobby."

The evacuation was quick and efficient, thanks to the building's security and the assistant KDL agents; the slowest part was when Yamada got stuck in a doorway. "Something's holding them up," Kirigiri said once the final evacuee left the building, "the police are usually faster than this." She put her phone away.

"Kirigiri-san, why _did _you ask me to bring Nanami-san?" Hinata said.

Kirigiri blinked. "Are you telling me you didn't catch it?" Kirigiri said.

"What?"

"Nanami-san mentioned a Monobear controller. And yet… she's been in no situations where she could know that Monobears needed to be controlled, has she?" Kirigiri said. She sat down on a sofa. Hinata, still holding the Monobear, leaned against the receptionist's desk. "I know for a fact that all through Sonia-san's party, there was no Monobear. Likewise, there was no Monobear in the Novoselician wedding, nor at her apartment, according to your report."

Hinata opened his mouth to protest, but realized that Kirigiri was right: there should've been no way Nanami knew about the Monobears. "What about the little ones?" he replied.

"They don't appear to move," Kirigiri said, "only the big ones."

"Kirigiri-san, are you claiming that Nanami-san is in Despair?" he said. He kept his voice steady, but he felt a bit angry, as well as a bit anxious and a bit… betrayed, by both Kirigiri and Nanami.

Kirigiri slowly nodded. "Fujisaki even called her a traitor. Perhaps there's something else?" Kirigiri said lightly.

Memories began running through Hinata's mind: Nakejawa not shooting him once Nanami arrived, her "introduction" of Dr. Ryouko Otonashi to him even though she knew that the good doctor was bad news, her blanket refusal to look at the little Monobears harder even though she quickly accepted that they were bugged, her apparent sparing at the hands of Komaeda, the missing robotics research, her belief that Despair wouldn't target her.

Too many things would be explained. Yet at the same time… "No," Hinata said, "I can't think of anything."

Kirigiri pursed her lips and arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

The silence lasted for almost a minute. "They're still late," Hinata said.

"Indeed. Hinata-san, seeing as the Masarus have left, I have a new mission for you," Kirigiri said. She stood up and looked him in the eye. "Fail to do this mission, and you will be discharged from KDL. Do I make this clear?"

He nodded, and looked away. "Let me guess… spy on Nanami-san."

"Officially, you're protecting her," Kirigiri said. She sat back down and crossed her legs. "But at the same time, you are to determine if she is in Despair, and if she is, what role she has. Who knows- maybe she's Germany."

* * *

Once the police had left, Kirigiri convinced Togami to let Nanami have the day off work considering her cousin's brutal death. Hinata drove the two of them home; she cried all the way back.

By the time they were back in Residence B's parking lot, Nanami had fallen silent. Her bloodied clothes drew some looks from residents, but with a wave of his badge, Hinata was able to stave off any curious onlookers. "Official business, coming through."

When they arrived in the apartment, Hinata quietly closed the door behind Nanami and considered whether to tell her about Kirigiri's new orders, but decided against it.

"Chiaki-san," he said, "go get clean. I'll- I'll make us something to eat," he said. She nodded stiffly and then shuffled off towards the bathroom.

She emerged from the bathroom in a towel. Hinata had not heard the shower running. He could not see blood on her, though he knew she must've had it still on her in her… covered areas. "Hajime," she said lifelessly, "could you go get some clothes from my room…"

"Sure," he said. She nodded and reentered the bathroom. After a moment or two, he heard the shower turn on. He entered her room, and found an unpleasant surprise.

A normal-size Monobear was sitting on the bed, its eyes lightless. A note was attached to its leg. "To Chiaki, from Mikan," it said, upon closer inspection. Hinata turned it over, and shook it, and then squeezed it. It was apparently a normal, if oddly-colored, teddy bear. He frowned and threw it next to Nanami's bunny in the corner, and turned to go through her clothes, thoughts of Mikan running through his mind. Of course, it made sense that she would be in Despair, all things considered… she worked for Matsuda, and her boyfriend owned a restaurant where the waiters wore Monobear masks.

Even if it was three years ago, living with Nanami for a year meant that it was easy for Hinata to assemble replacement clothes. He stole into the bathroom and entered the shower room, where a shower curtain shielded Nanami from view. "I'm just going to leave them in here, okay?" Hinata said.

"Thanks."

"Oh, and Tsumiki-san left something for you in your bedroom-" Hinata said. He cut off when Nanami opened the shower curtain slightly, exposing _just _enough of her for him to choke on his speech.

"No one should've been here," she said, and she quickly added, "and grow up, Hajime, we had sex last night and you're petrified by… you're… Hajime, go check your room-"

Hinata forced himself to nod and rushed out of the room, glad that Nanami was no longer speaking as slowly as she had. He shut the bathroom door and glanced at his door. It was still barricaded. Then he checked in the TV room.

The sliding door was shut, but the block of wood was leaning against it. And the television had another sheet of paper stuck to it- "A Monobear looked through the kitchen…"

Hinata turned his back on the TV room and ran into the kitchen, his hand on his gun. There was nothing in the kitchen, and he searched for five minutes. He sighed in relief and turned back towards the TV room, where he ran into Nanami. "Hajime," she said, "did you find anything-"

He shook his head, and she fell silent. "Don't worry, Chiaki-san," he said, "we'll catch whoever did this."

"Just like you caught Chihiro-kun?" she said bitterly. She put the wood block back in place and then pulled the paper off of the television. "Why did he have to die…"

"Because he was useless to Despair," Hinata said. "Listen, Chiaki-san, I…" She looked at him expectantly, and his mouth dried up. He could not tell her about his suspicions. "I-I think we should play a game. You know, something to… something to…"

"Something to keep my mind off of Chihiro-kun," she said miserably. She sank into the couch. "Sure. Super Smash Bros."

They played Super Smash Bros., but Nanami lost every time, even to the AI. Then they played Mario Kart; Nanami came in last place, making it the first time Hinata ever beat her. And then again, in everything from Mario Party to Call of Duty, Nanami lost, probably for the first time in her life in many cases. At the end of a disastrous team match, Nanami simply put her controller down and curled up against Hinata. "I'm tired," she said softly, "I don't want to think. All I can think of..."

"I know how it feels," Hinata replied softly. "I'll try and help you…"

"Kirigiri-kun didn't die," she said.

"No, but all I imagined was you dying."

She was silent after that. Hinata turned the television off, and the two of them just stayed there, Nanami curled up against him, Hinata's arm around her, until they went to bed. Before Hinata drifted off to sleep, he gripped Nanami's hand tightly.

* * *

**A/N: So. Hopefully, Chihiro being a killer wasn't out of left field- I tried to foreshadow what he did in the previous chapters. Also, hopefully you want to strangle Hinata for his refusal to believe that Nanami's in Despair- that's what I'm going for.**

**Now, if she is in Despair or not, is something only I know. Although it is pretty obvious, I think. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, leave them in a review!**

**I'd say that there are only a few chapters left. I'd be surprised if I reached 18. Next chapter, Komaeda should be back, and then the final plot will kick in.**


	13. The Confrontation

**A/N: And now, everything is coming together. Only a few more chapters left, I think.**

* * *

Hinata kept a close eye on Nanami for the next week. Nanami was still depressed about her cousin, and had used some of her vacation days to take at least Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off; Hinata spent that time trying to comfort her.

The investigation into Despair continued as well. Like Fujisaki said, Tanaka's body was found in Saionji's shower. Saionji, for her part, had visited Nanami's apartment with Koizumi while Hinata helped a KDL team investigate the Masaru's blasted-out apartment on Saturday, but nothing was found of value and nothing was learned.

As for the Monobear and the note, they were both handed over to Hayao, the KDL lab chief. The Monobear, it turned out, was completely normal, but Mikan Tsumiki claimed that she had not sent Nanami the Monobear, nor had Hanamura or Matsuda, to her knowledge. And she had _definitely _not sent the note: only Nanami's fingerprints were found on the note, but she had pulled it off the television, so that wasn't a surprise.

Speaking of Nanami, Hinata and Nanami's relationship had also rekindled, to a certain extent. Hinata was back in his bed and bedroom, but Nanami woke him up one night (Monday) and pulled him into her bedroom so that he could help her through her nightmares. Unlike Thursday night, nothing ensued.

Nanami took the day off on Thursday and Friday too. The nightmares continued, and Friday night Nanami was back in Hinata's room. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "this is so shameful, but-"

Hinata sat up from his bed. "There's nothing wrong," he said. "There's nothing shameful about… those."

Nanami nodded stiffly and took his hand. "Promise me you won't leave," she said.

"Don't worry," Hinata said, "I know better now."

* * *

Saturday, Hinata woke up with Nanami pressed up against him. They were in his room, and their clothes were still on. He slid out of bed, knowing that she would probably be sleeping for a little while longer. He glanced at the clock: 5:58. He started making breakfast.

The door buzzed, and Hinata answered. Standing there was Mahiru Koizumi, holding a basket with a Monobear in it. "Hello, Hinata-san," she said. "Can I come in?"

Hinata moved out of the way and let Koizumi in. Then he closed the door. "Koizumi-san, why do you have a Monobear-"

"It's a present from Britain," she said in a low whisper, "he's coming back in two weeks, but he thought you and Nanami-san might want something to remember him by." She put the basked down on the floor and entered the TV room. "How's Chiaki holding up?"

"She's still having nightmares," Hinata said. "She's spent half the week sleeping with me because of them."

"You had better-"

"Don't worry. I'm not," Hinata said flatly. "I don't take advantage of people like that. So, are you in Despair?"

Koizumi sighed and nodded. "For an Ultimate Photographer, it sure didn't feel that way," she said bitterly. "People just looked at my photographs and said, 'this is a photo?', things like that. Before long, photography critics were panning everything I took. And then, after I photographed Hiyo-chan during a dance routine of hers and published those, people began claiming we were in a lesbian relationship."

"So?" Hinata said. He didn't see why Koizumi was now gripping the couch tightly.

"The kind of people who go to Hiyo-chan's dance routines aren't the kind of people to take an open mind to love, Hinata-san," Koizumi said. "Her routines began being cancelled, one after the other. Before long, she had nothing. She was evicted. And the rumors only got worse after she moved in with me. And then my boyfriend broke up with me- he believed the rumors- and got killed in a car crash while he was driving to my apartment to apologize."

She slumped. "Both of our lives were in shambles. That's when… that's when Enoshima appeared." Hinata could just imagine Enoshima- that fashion girl he'd seen once or twice back in school- knocking on the door to some low-end apartment and sauntering in, to tempt Koizumi and Saionji into Despair. "She… she convinced us."

"Won't they kill you for telling me?" Hinata said.

Koizumi looked into Hinata's eyes. "Hajime-kun," she said, "we're already damned anyway. All of us Hope's Peak graduates, we're going into the game. We're… we're all damned."

She looked down, and the door to the room opened. "Hi, Mahiru-chan," Nanami said, and she yawned. "It's early, isn't it?"

"Feeling better, Chiaki-chan?" Koizumi said. She'd brightened up a little. "I was just telling Hinata-san about your gift from Komaeda-kun-"

"What?"

"A Monobear," Hinata said. Nanami glanced at him, and then returned her gaze to Koizumi.

"Tell him thanks from me," she said. She took a seat next to Hinata, putting herself between Hinata and Koizumi, then yawned and leaned on Hinata again. "Sorry, Hajime-kun, you're just so comfortable…"

But while he gave Koizumi a sheepish grin at her look of disbelief, he was thinking that Nanami had overhead their conversation and was now stopping it.

* * *

The three weeks had gone by quickly, in Hinata's opinion: Nanami had returned to work, Hinata had kept an eye on her, and KDL agents handled security at Togami Robotics. Hinata kept the apartment clean, and after the incident on Friday night, he stayed in his own bed. By the Monday before Komaeda returned, Hinata could hear her playing video games again; he knew she must've adjusted at least a little to be able to play games again. She'd refrained for the most part while in mourning.

Koizumi began visiting every Wednesday, and due to headaches or Nanami not being back from work, both times Hinata and Koizumi had to cook together. The first night, they cooked in sort of an awkward silence, sometimes resorting to stilted conversation, until Nanami arrived home and the two of them became free to talk at length with her. The second night, however, was the night before Komaeda and Sonia returned.

"He's back tomorrow," she pointed out, whilst chopping vegetables. Hinata glanced at Koizumi, but she did not look up as she said, "he'll probably want to see you."

"Koizumi-san, I didn't get the opportunity, so what's the game?" Hinata said.

Koizumi stopped chopping vegetables. "It's… it's not something I know about," she said after a moment or two. "Ask Komaeda when he gets back." She resumed chopping.

"Okay," Hinata said, "but you said we were all damned-"

"We're all going into the game," Koizumi said. "And you can only escape if you… if you kill someone."

Hinata, who'd been toying with the stovetop, froze. "You're not serious," he whispered.

Koizumi said nothing and kept chopping the vegetables.

"Koizumi-san, why haven't you told someone-"

"I didn't need to. Austria knew," Koizumi said. "If she didn't tell you, that's not my fault, Hinata-kun- Hinata-kun?"

But Hinata was not listening, as he felt he'd been slapped. "Hinata-kun?" If Mina knew, then Kirigiri knew, and yet- "Hinata-kun?"

"Sorry, Koizumi-san," he said, returning to the stove. He pulled the pan out, turned the fan-vent on, and pulled the oil out. "I'll ask Komaeda when he inevitably annoys me." He took a deep breath and said, "Koizumi-san, is Chiaki-san in Despair?"

Once again, Koizumi stopped chopping vegetables. "Hinata-kun," she said, her voice strangely small, "ask her yourself. If you don't, you're no better then you were three years ago."

* * *

Dinner was a subdued affair, and games after dinner went well: Nanami flattened both Koizumi and Hinata easily. Then the three of them had turned to camera small-talk before Koizumi left for the night. Hinata and Nanami followed her out to the entry hall, and as soon as the door shut Nanami leaned against the wall.

"Hey, Hajime, Komaeda-kun's coming back to the country, right?" she said. Hinata, who was still staring at the door, nodded. "He sent a message to me at work. Says that you need to come out to his apartment tomorrow, alone."

Hinata laughed bitterly. "We're enemies," he said, turning to face Nanami.

"You don't trust him?"

"Would you?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it and sighed. "Yeah," she said slowly, "but he did seem concerned about you when you collapsed at his wedding…"

"He's obsessed with me," Hinata said. He walked over to Nanami. "He'd probably kidnap me. I'd rather be here than with him."

Nanami sighed and wrapped him in a hug. "Hajime, you need to do your job," she said softly, "just get some KDL backup, you'll be fine-"

"You seem awfully insistent," Hinata said. "You're not trying to kill me, are you?"

"Sorry, but I've had enough of people dying," she said. "All the people I love, even if… they're a lot different from what I remember-" she gripped him tighter and kissed him.

When the kiss ended, Hinata said, "How close were you to Fujisaki?"

She sighed and broke away. "After I tried to… kill myself at his apartment," she whispered, "we didn't talk much."

She left for her bedroom. "Chiaki."

She paused, and turned to face Hinata. "What, you wanna stay the night in my room again?"

"Um, no, I mean," Hinata said, and something inside of his said _she's trying to distract you_. "Uh… good night, and, ah-"

Nanami walked back up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's nice to have company after waking up from the… the nightmares," she said. "I won't mind."

She leaned up against him, and the voice inside Hinata's head said _yeah, she is_. But the distraction was working. "Um, Chiaki, where's Komaeda want me to go?"

She blinked. "He said just start walking, he'll find you," Nanami said. "Now, c'mon, Hajime-"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into her room. The door swung shut behind them.

* * *

Two KDL detectives and Hinata drove out of the Roppongi compound and spotted Komaeda's hair in the crowd. "I see you brought help," Komaeda said, getting in the car, "c'mon, Hajime, don't you trust me-"

"No," said one of the detectives, the one driving. "We don't."

"Sorry, technically speaking Hinata-san is a high-ranking executive," added the other.

Komaeda smiled. "Then you two can come with us," he said, still smiling. "Don't worry, I already know that anything I tell Hinata you'll know too."

With directions from Komaeda, they pulled into the Hyatt Tokyo. "I did say you could just walk over, Hajime," Komaeda said.

Komaeda lead them into the Hyatt's lobby and up two flights of stairs, until he came to a door and knocked. "Oh _Sonia~_" he whispered, somehow pronouncing the '~', and the door opened.

Sonia looked very tired, but she nodded to Hinata and his detectives. "C'min," she yawned, "don' worry, we don't have anything illegal."

She shut the door once the last detective entered the room. "Tea?" Sonia added, picking up a tray of steaming beverages. The two detectives thanked her, picked up the tea cups, and then shuffled over to the side.

"C'mon," Sonia said to Hinata and Komaeda, and the two of them followed her through the entrance-area to the bedroom-area. There were two _thumps_, and Sonia said, "skin-contact sleeping drugs, courtesy of Ultimate Pharmacist." She yawned again and said, "I'm going back to bed."

She kissed Komaeda and then returned to her bed. "C'mon, let's go talk," Komaeda said. He lead Hinata back out of the room and into the room they'd just come out of. The two detectives were slumped against the wall, covered in tea. "Don't worry," Komaeda added, "the tea's actually cold!"

"Then why was there steam?" Hinata said.

Komaeda shrugged. "For obvious reasons, I didn't drink any," he said.

Hinata sighed and touched the tea, but sure enough, it was cold. "And now," Komaeda said, "we can talk."

"What do you want, Komaeda?" Hinata said.

Komaeda flopped down into a chair. "Hajime, the game starts very soon," he said. "At the end of the week, it starts, and you're the star player."

"And you're there too?" Hinata said. Komaeda nodded. "Koizumi-san was saying-"

Komeada blinked. "She wasn't supposed to tell you," he said, "that won't reflect well on Monobear."

"Maybe she was ordered to," Hinata said. Considering what Monobear had done to Fujisaki…

Komaeda frowned. "Maybe that's it," he said, "but since Xiong Nu got killed-"

"Nakejawa said that Germany was compromised," Hinata said.

Komaeda nodded. "Yeah, she was," he said. "But if they decided to go around me…"

"_You _declared Germany compromised?"

"I did," Komaeda said. "I also told Persia that Austria was a traitor."

"I thought you were trying to be the hope that overcame despair or something," Hinata said.

"No, I'm the despair that hope will power through," Komaeda said, as if it were obvious.

"And isn't that what Kirigiri-san wants too?" Hinata said. "To have hope overcome despair?"

"Exactly. Our goals are different," Komaeda said. "I want to be part of that despair that you, Ultimate Hope, powers through."

"Explain," Hinata said coldly.

Komaeda smirked. "Hajime, you're Izuru Kamukura, remember? It's simple. You'll destroy Despair, from the upper circle to the cell bosses to even the rank-and-file. You, the Ultimate Hope, will triumph over Ultimate Despair!"

Hinata felt a sick swoop in his stomach, and said slowly, "Komaeda, what do you mean by 'destroy'?"

"Why, kill, of course!" Komaeda said. He sounded entirely too cheerful.

Ice shot through Hinata's body. He felt chilled to the core. "Killed…?"

"Killed."

Hinata's eye twitched, and he stood up. He tried to control himself by breathing nice and slowly. "Komaeda, what's the overall plan?"

"It's my plan, to rid the world of Despair," Komaeda said. "I'll gladly give my life for such a purpose."

For the briefest of moments, Hinata remembered another conversation, three years ago. "You're insane," Hinata said, "does Sonia-san-"

"Of course she does!" Komaeda said, "Do you really think I'd be like you-"

"If I hadn't left, Chiaki-san would've died," Hinata said quietly. "They were trying to make me Kamukura. What better way then to kill my loved ones?"

Komaeda opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it. He seemed… surprised. "Komaeda," Hinata growled, "do you really think that this will stop Despair?"

"Of course."

"What is the game." Hinata pulled out his gun and leveled it at his former best friend. "Tell me, Komaeda."

Komaeda frowned. "The game," he finally said, "is… well, let me explain…"

* * *

"Ten years ago, a girl named Junko Enoshima came to Hope's Peak Academy. She was beautiful, even at 15, and accordingly an 'Ultimate Fashion Model'. But she was also intelligent, cunning, and, especially, _ruthless_.

"In her past, something happened, and Enoshima became obsessed with despair. She wanted to cause it, spread it. She saw what despair could do: it could cause wars, it could cause death, it could cause mayhem and chaos and evil. To her, despair was the most powerful force in nature.

"Enoshima had two accomplices: her sister, Mukuro Ikusaba, the only survivor of mercenary group Fenrir, and her boyfriend, Yasuke Matsuda, a childhood friend of hers who was easily swayed to her side. They were, respectively, 'Ultimate Soldier' and 'Ultimate Neurologist'.

"Enoshima, Ikusaba, and Matsuda concocted a plan. You see, Matsuda was chosen to attend the school for a simple reason: to make, at some point, Izuru Kamukura, 'Ultimate Hope'. But Kamukura would be twisted to suit despair. Matsuda would make sure that Kamukura lost all his empathy in favor of nothing but collecting information and talents. Izuru Kamukura would become the world's greatest man, but he would lose his humanity in the process.

"The main drivers of the program were the chairwoman of the school board and the chairman of the selection committee: Miwako and Hiroshi Nakejawa. Using their power, they scoured Japan for the student who most wanted to attend Hope's Peak, so that they could turn him or her into Izuru Kamukura.

"And who did they find? You, Hajime. Yes, Hajime Hinata. He was not the top of his class, nor was he the hardest worker. But more than anything, he wanted to attend Hope's Peak Academy. So Hiroshi Nakejawa convinced the other members of the selection committee to admit Hinata as the 'Ultimate Student', or 'Ultimate Potential'.

"Once in school, the trio of despair watched over Hinata as he attended Hope's Peak. He made friends, rivals, grades, and even got himself a girlfriend. Then, in the lead-up to the winter holiday in his second year, they struck.

"With the help of the Nakejawas, Hinata was involved in an accident that necessitated an operation to save his life. Part of the operation happened to be the procedure to create Izuru Kamukura. Then, throughout 'physical therapy', Matsuda and Enoshima and others in on the plan turned him into Kamukura.

"Or tried to, at least. Hinata kept resisting the takeover. So Hiroshi had his family killed, and pressured his wife, who'd recently moved up, into hiding his sister for 'protection'. But Matsuda had already made his connection to his family weak, making the gesture… pointless.

"But then, tragedy struck. Hinata's best friends- me, the Nagito Komaeda of the past, and his girlfriend, Chiaki Nanami- accidentally helped him at least suppress Kamukura. While Matsuda had removed Hinata's link to his family, he forgot to remove his link to his friends. Kamukura was defeated, and the ambitions of 'Ultimate Despair' had to be shelved…

"A year passed, and Matsuda graduated; two, and the despair sisters graduated. Three years passed, and Hinata and his friends left. By that point, Miwako Nakejawa had been silenced for threatening to tell the police about what happened to the Hinatas, incidentally dragging Hiroshi Nakejawa down with her.

"Another year passed, and Ultimate Despair learned that Hinata had proposed to his girlfriend. They also knew that Hinata's boss, Kyouko Kirigiri, was about to get married to her high-school sweetheart Makoto Naegi. So, they decided to nearly kill Naegi, in front of Hinata, and then threaten the same against Hinata.

"After making it seem as if they were targeting KDA as a whole, they succeeded in unnerving Hinata. However, he ran away instead of loitering behind. They knew that if they killed Nanami, then he would fall into Despair; she was, after all, the only family he really had left.

"So they laid low, waited for Hinata to return to Japan. Eventually, Kirigiri herself called him back, and then, the plan started. Athens and Sparta- may they rest in peace- beat him up and left him on the doorstep to Nanami's apartment. She watched over him, and arranged for him to stay with her.

"Over time, they would fall in love again. And then, the game would start. Nanami would be killed by a mole, Hinata would become Izuru Kamukura, permanently, and then Kamukura, 'Ultimate Hope', would kill a group of high-profile people on national television, and the government's role in creating him would be revealed.

"Of course, facts would be fudged or outright made-up. But the massacre would just be the first one out of many, until first all of Japan, and then all of the world is plunged into despair. The strong will kill the weak, the weak will kill the weaker, and the weaker will band together to kill the strong.

"And that, Hinata, is where I come in. The best way to stop this, of course, is by making sure that you kill Ultimate Despair. And you'll do that by using me. You'll kill me, and Sonia, on the way to them. We'll gladly sacrifice ourselves to make sure you have an opening to stop Ultimate Despair."

* * *

Komaeda's explanation over, he smiled widely at Hinata.

And Hinata put his gun away, and then lunged for Komaeda and punched him in the face. "You were right," he said, deathly quiet, "_betrayal _is worse than bullets. And you're guilty of it, Nagito Komaeda."

Komaeda looked genuinely confused and hurt. "Hajime, I have not betrayed you-"

"You betrayed me when you joined Despair," Hinata said. "No, you're betraying Sonia-san. You've set it up through your own delusions so that you'll both _die _so that I have a _chance _at killing an Ultimate Soldier and her allies. You're stupid, and you make me sick."

The door to the bedroom opened and Sonia appeared. "Nagito, Hajime-kun, is something wrong-"

"Now," Hinata snarled, "look each other in the eye and tell each other that they mean _nothing _to you. Because that's all I see."

He walked over to the detectives, leaving Komaeda and Sonia in a stunned silence. "It's not love to commit mutual suicide," Hinata said coldly, "that's what I've learned, because that's what would've happened if I hadn't… run off."

"Hajime…" Komaeda said-

But Hinata spun on his feet and screamed, "You talk about it like it's so academic! Well you know what!? I never even got the _chance _to marry the person I love, because if I did, she would _die_! And here you two are, planning out some sort of mutual suicide just to make sure I can kill more people! What do you have to fall into despair for!? If anyone should, it's me and Chiaki, because our chance at a life together was _ripped apart _by these kind of machinations, but we're trying to beat them! Hell, all you'll do is spread more despair- the way your plan works, ENOSHIMA STILL WINS!"

"Hajime-kun…"

"You both make me sick," Hinata snarled. He kneeled down to the detectives, but saw that they were both still asleep.

"Hajime," Komaeda said, and now his voice had a desperate quality to it, "Chiaki-san is Germany. She's been in Despair for three years now."

But Hinata simply glanced at Komaeda and said, in a hard voice, "I already knew, Komaeda. Now _shut the fuck up _and help me get these two out of here."

* * *

Hinata was determined to make the most romantic dinner possible.

He moved the couch against the wall, vacuumed the floor, put up heavy drapes to block the urban light, and moved the table to the center of the TV room. He draped a dark gray tablecloth over the table, and put a candlestick on top of it. Then, he cooked up his best and fanciest food- specifically, the same type of food that he'd served up the night he proposed to Nanami- and even scrounged up a bottle of wine Nanami had for some reason and two wineglasses to go with it. Then he set everything on the table, dimmed the lights, and dressed up in his fanciest clothes (a black suit not unlike his rented tux from the wedding) to complete the evening.

He wore his gun inside his jacket.

When Nanami came home, he greeted her with a deep kiss that she returned. "Thanks, Hajime," she said when it was done, "I needed that. W-what's the occasion?"

"I just want a special night, Chiaki," Hinata replied. "How about you get dressed up while I wait in the TV room?"

Nanami smiled at him and entered her own room. Hinata entered the TV room and began putting food on plates, and smiled when Nanami reentered the room. To him… she was beautiful. She was wearing a gray, formfitting sleeveless dress that Hinata had seen her wear once before, a long time ago, albeit at the time she had been a bit slimmer (not that he dared to tell her, of course).

Hinata got up and took her hand. "Chiaki, you look breathtaking tonight," he said.

She giggled and thanked him for the compliment.

Hinata lead her over to her chair, and then took his own. "Hajime, do you have a special occasion in mind?" Nanami said. She was smiling very broadly. "To press the final reset button?"

Hinata smiled back at her, and said, "just look down, Chiaki."

She blinked and her mouth opened slightly, and then she looked down.

And the blood began draining out of her face. "Hajime, how could you…" she whispered. For written on the plate, in food, was a simple message: I KNOW YOU ARE GERMANY. "…how could you- how could you…"

"Know?" Hinata said, as softly as he could, and she nodded, very smally. Then she sprang to her feet and charged for the door, but Hinata leapt up and grabbed her arm. "Please Chiaki-"

But she said nothing, only slumped against the wall and began to cry.

* * *

**A/N: I hope Komaeda's plan didn't seem to come out of nowhere, and I hope I made Nanami being Germany _really really _obvious. So, if you have any questions, comments, or reviews... review.**


	14. Chiaki Nanami

**A/N: This was the hardest chapter to write so far, hence why it took so long to come out. But don't worry! The story is still continuing, and it's almost over.**

* * *

"You hate me," Nanami moaned, childishly, five minutes later. It was the first time she'd talked since the crying stopped.

"I don't hate you," Hinata said.

They were sitting on the couch, the dinner forgotten. Hinata was holding Nanami tightly, and she was trembling; she looked thoroughly miserable, so he was trying his best to comfort her. The betrayal was only in the back of his mind- the most important thing was Nanami. After a minute or three of being held, the crying stopped.

And then they'd sat in silence, with only the distant rumble of thunder. Hinata could feel Nanami's heartbeat, and feel her chest rising and falling with her haggard breathing. "You hate me," she moaned again. "I'm your enemy."

"I… I love you, Chiaki, you know that," Hinata said. Personally, he felt at a loss for words. "And you don't have to be my enemy-"

"Manipulating me, Hajime," Nanami said. She shifted slightly. "That's what you're doing-"

"That's what you did to me," Hinata said harshly. Nanami fell silent, and Hinata felt terrible. _Why? _something inside said, _she was cruel to you. She stopped Koizumi from telling you more. She tried to get your mind off of Nakejawa by having sex with you_.

"How long have you known?" Nanami whispered.

Hinata thought for a second. "For a while, now," Hinata said. "Really, thinking back, it was obvious."

Nanami, who'd started looking at Hinata, stared away from Hinata. Hinata kept quiet, letting her think, and after a moment or two, she took a deep breath, and began telling her side of the story.

* * *

Chiaki Nanami looked down at her phone. "Meet me, same place, same time- JE".

JE. Junko Enoshima, the mysterious underclassman who'd called Nanami one day before the Kirigiris' wedding and invited her to a high-end coffee-shop to discuss wedding dresses and body armor. At the time, she had not yet disappeared off the public face (although she would soon), and she was increasingly an icon of the entire Japanese model industry.

Nanami had not met Enoshima alone; the entire female classes of the 78th and 79th classes were invited. It was a fun day for Nanami, even though she didn't care about fashion and usually slept through these kind of events; Enoshima had a _captivating _air about her. She was very… charismatic.

Then the wedding occurred, and Makoto Naegi got shot, and everything began spiraling out of control. Enoshima had arranged for a one-on-one meeting with Nanami, a very short one that listed only ten minutes, where Enoshima told Nanami point-blank that she might as well leave Hinata to keep him safe. And then Hinata himself had suggested it.

She was getting less sleep, and her coworkers thought that she was sick. Her skin was paler and she had bags under her eyes. Hinata, who looked no better, made few comments and, if necessary, would give her a hug and a kiss before work.

And now, Nanami had a date with Enoshima. Hinata had already left for work (he wasn't there this morning), but Nanami had to rush out the door to get to work, barely having time to shower and brush her teeth, and had to work extra hours. All in all, even without the meeting with Enoshima, it was an exhausting day, and she was counting down the hours until she could be home with Hajime and get some much-needed sleep.

She entered the shop and looked around for Enoshima. Upon not finding her anywhere, Nanami sighed and sat down at a table.

"Nanami-san?" Nanami glanced up to see a stylish-looking waiter, who winked at her, and then continued, "I have a message from your friend, Enoshima-san." The waiter pulled a piece of paper out of her apron and then sashayed away.

The paper was folded over, but Nanami quickly opened it- and then stared at it with cold horror.

"Hajime Hinata has left for Osaka."

The door to their apartment slammed open, but Nanami's search was fruitless.

Hajime Hinata was gone. But he left one thing behind: an engagement ring on a piece of paper on the kitchen table. "Stay safe- Hajime." And that was it. Not even an "I love you", or an, "I'll come back when we're safe." No, just… just "stay safe." Nanami clutched the engagement ring and sobbed.

* * *

To make things worse, her father died in the hospital the next day. It seemed to be too cruel of a coincidence.

Between Hinata and her father, Nanami felt dead inside for the next week or so. Her voice was perfectly flat. Her skin was even paler than usual, which just made the bags under her eyes all the more prominent. People told her to just "get over it- he left" or "things'll get better!"

Things didn't get better.

"C'mon, Chiaki-chan, if that good-for-nothing bas-" Koizumi would say, but Nanami would simply get up and walk away. Hinata meant nothing to her now.

Nothing meant anything to her now.

Enoshima didn't help. On the news, they talked about the missing fashion star in the wake of the Kirigiri shooting, but Enoshima kept calling Nanami's phone. And Nanami kept answering, since it was _expected _to answer the phone, and Enoshima would taunt her. "Give in to despair," Enoshima would say, pointlessly, since Nanami already had.

Many nights, Nanami would go into the bathroom and just stare at the cleaning supplies underneath the sink, stare at the warning labels. They gave her ideas.

She began acting more cheerful in public. Koizumi was fooled. Others were not. Hinata had left behind some paperwork, and Nanami delivered it to Kirigiri at the hospital, but with one glance at Nanami Kirigiri's face had slipped into a mask of suspicion. "Don't worry, Nanami-san. You should see a nice therapist," she said, and then her face returned to its normal, impassive look. Nanami did notice that she held her sleeping husband's hand tightly the entire time.

She returned home one night, the first in three days since Koizumi had insisted she stay over with her, and instantly headed for the bathroom. She'd spent the whole day acting as cheerful as possible in front of Koizumi, but it was, well, an act.

It was easy to find the bathroom in the dark- the lights were not coming on for some reason- and it was easy to find the cabinet. She opened the door, and groped around for the chemicals.

Nothing.

"Nothing?" she whispered hoarsely. She began grabbing around the bathroom, but everything was gone. The soaps, the shampoos, the shower-curtain, the towel. She wandered through the apartment, but everything was gone.

"Nanami-san."

Nanami turned around to see Kirigiri, a stripe on her face illuminated by the outside. "Where is everything!?" Nanami wailed, "Please! Just let me- just let me _die_!"

* * *

Nanami looked up at the ceiling of her apartment. She was stretched out on her sheetless bed but she could not get to sleep. Kirigiri had already left, apparently content that Nanami wouldn't kill herself now. The detective in the corner- a Reiko Honda, Hinata had told her about Honda once- would apparently make sure of that. She'd volunteered.

The next day, Nanami did not go home to her apartment. She went to her cousin's apartment instead. Chihiro Fujisaki greeted her cheerfully and left for dinner with his own fiancé Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Once he left, Nanami ripped through his bathroom and found something very interesting: sleeping pills, the same exact brand that Hinata had used.

She pulled them off their shelf and opened the lid and then…

And then…

* * *

Nanami could not continue after that point, only stare blankly, fresh tears still glistening on her face, at the television. "Don't worry, Chiaki," Hinata whispered, "I-I-"

But he found that he had nothing to say. _And why should I? _That something inside him said_. _"I was in the hospital after that," Nanami said in an unstable voice, "and that was when… when _she _came."

"It was a hospital-bed visit. Dr. Matsuda introduced me to her. Dr. Ryouko Otonashi, the rising star of the Japanese psychiatric world!" Nanami said. She gave a shaky laugh. "She was sympathetic, yes, and she… and she…"

Nanami stopped talking. Rain began drumming against the window, and a bright blue light temporarily illuminated the room before the building shook from the very loud bolt of lightning. The rain beat harder, which made Nanami's next, whispered words hard to hear: "She convinced me to join Despair, and made me Germany."

Hinata half-expected another lightning bolt, but nothing happened. "The weather's what they were waiting for," Nanami added, still whispering, in an uneven voice, "it makes it easier to capture us. To send us to Hope's Peak and start the game of mutual killing."

Hinata swallowed. He didn't want to be reminded of his conversation with Komaeda earlier in the day_. _"_Nanami would be killed by a mole, Hinata would become Izuru Kamukura, permanently…_" still rang through his mind. "You didn't kill anyone, did you?"

"I helped plan the game, that will kill too many people," she murmured. "But I never killed anyone. Most people in Despair don't kill anyone, Hajime. We work through other people. Well, not me, but you saw people like Athens or Sparta."

"Was there something wrong with them?"

"Brain damage, a long time ago." She curled up closer to Hinata. "Please understand, I'm not a killer. I don't want to be a killer. I really didn't know that Chihiro-kun killed Ishimaru, he wasn't supposed to get his hands dirty," she said.

"I believe you," Hinata replied, as tenderly as he could. "A-anything else?"

"I- well, yes…"

* * *

Three years passed. Nanami was alone in her room, playing on the PS3, when she heard someone knocking on the front door. She sighed, got up, and answered it. Athens and Sparta were standing there, Sparta holding an unconscious Hinata in his arms, Athens with his arms crossed looking smug. Nanami's immediate impulse was to slam the door; after all these years, she wanted nothing to do with Hinata.

"We've got a delivery courtesy of Britain," drawled Athens before she could close the door. Sparta shoved Hinata into Nanami's apartment, and then both he and Athens tipped their hats.

Nanami sighed and moved to begin dragging Hinata out of the entryway. Merely grabbing his arms again and pulling still brought up memories of the past, and made her feel somewhat… uncomfortable, to an extant. She shut the door and then dragged Hinata into Tsumiki's old room, where she tucked him in.

She called Kirigiri and made up a story, then circulated it to Komaeda and Masaru. Then she waited for Hinata to wake up. When he did, the next night, she put on her best game face and calmly talked to him. He seemed to be uncomfortable and his thanks sounded genuine, but she tried to limit her conversations with him.

The next day, she went with him to the Kirigiris- they suspected nothing at that point- and agreed to officially allow Hinata to live in her apartment. Then she waited. She talked with him, fed him some lies, and generally did what Otonashi ordered her to do. Then something strange had happened- Hinata had told her about Komaeda's warning. She hadn't expected that.

And after that, things had begun to change. She told Komaeda, of course, about Hinata's warning- passed it off on some unseen bug the police had somehow missed. It had been Nakejawa, of course, who planted the obvious bug, though Nanami had posted the Monobear note; Nakejawa knew very little about the Monobears.

Then the wedding invitation from Komaeda and Sonia happened, and Nanami decided to tell Hinata about what had happened once she'd left, to show him that she had not been loyal to him, to try and sink his hopes, but it didn't work. She had told the truth, of course, although she was still afraid to check up on what happened to her last, would-be abusive boyfriend.

But from there, things had begun spiraling out of control again. Nanami could tell that Hinata still cared for, still liked her, and while she had partially cultivated that on Otonashi's orders, the truth was that she was starting to like him back again. This was, of course, a prospect that terrified her; she became nervous of just being around him.

Finally, Koizumi had brought her to the side after work. "If you're going to do the thing Dr. Otonashi wants, you two are going to have to be friends again!" Koizumi said sternly. Nanami nodded, and that night she "reset" her relationship with Hinata. But Hinata took it all in stride. He had no idea about what Otonashi had in store, and then he began going out of his way to try and rekindle his previous romantic relationship.

And Nanami couldn't believe him.

* * *

Nanami stopped talking again. "Ch-chiaki?" Hinata said, but she pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry," she said simply. "I'm sorry…"

She stared at him, but to Hinata, the stare looked dead. "Please talk to me," Hinata said. "Please, just let it out."

Nanami closed her eyes, very slowly, and Hinata could see tears beginning to form. "I hated you," she whispered. "I hated you for running away. I _hated _you. And you were trying so hard to fix things, so I took Koizumi's advice and pretended to be friends, and then… well, after the 'reset' I began looking forward to going home."

"You did seem to be talking to me more," Hinata said. Nanami nodded. "What about my fight with Chihiro?"

She swallowed. The lights flickered ominously. "Well…"

* * *

There weren't enough video games at Sonia's party. There weren't _any _video games at Sonia's party, for that matter. Fortunately, Sonia had forgotten that Nanami often fell asleep and thus was concerned by her falling asleep during the middle of a loud discussion about "adult toys" whilst everyone else was simply uncomfortable. This meant that Nanami ended up in Sonia's room, playing a game on her phone, when the call came in.

She didn't recognize the caller ID and talked to Hinata about Sonia's party discussion, the conversation with Spain, Komaeda and number four, and the fight with her cousin. Then she told him the work excuse and told him to talk to Chihiro, and hung up.

Nanami turned to Sonia's bedside table and fished through it until she found the Monoscope. She put it on, leaned back and closed her eyes, and announced quietly, "Venice Monobear." Instantly, she could see a table filled with party food, all manner of distinguished guests in various states of drunkenness, and Hinata and one of the Tsujis on the back balcony. Byakuya Togami entered the room and moved over to the Mono Ego console to begin typing into it; Nanami knew he was trouble ever since Celes had defected and handed over security codes to him, but fortunately he could not get very far.

With a swipe of her hand, she was able to push open the glass door. Then, with another gesture, she was able to cross the room and jump up onto a windowsill to watch Hinata and Tsuji. With some zooming and sound filtering, it was easy for Nanami to find out what was being discussed. Tsuji was actually the missing Gundam Tanaka, who Persia wanted dead so that he couldn't be useful to Kirigiri anymore. What was he doing out of prison?

But Tanaka noticed the Monobear and ran away, leaving something with Hinata. Togami got off of the console and stalked off. Then Nanami let the Monobear reenter the Mono Ego network and pulled the Monoscope off, and just in time too as Chihiro called.

"Something wrong, Chihiro-kun?" Nanami said.

"Can I use your shower? I need to wash off, I got dirty," her cousin said.

"Where are you?"

"Residence A."

"Do you have a key?"

"Yes."

"Was it for work?"

"Yes."

"Then you can use it. Just… just don't tell Hinata. I don't want him to get involved," Nanami said. She was a little startled by her concern.

She could almost hear Chihiro narrowing his eyes. "What's going on between you two, anyway?" he said.

"It's nothing," Nanami squeaked, "just… just work. L-lift him up and then drop him, like _she _said. That's all."

Chihiro was quiet for roughly a minute. "I'll just tell him I was drunk," he finally said. "Goodnight."

* * *

"You really weren't suspicious?" Hinata said. Nanami shook her head.

"He wasn't supposed to kill anyone. He just ran the Mono Ego network," Nanami said. She sighed and glanced at the TV. "It was based on Alter Ego. An autonomous AI in a series of computers that controlled the Monobears and followed the direct orders of Junko Enoshima herself."

"And the wedding?" Hinata said.

Nanami looked at Hinata, and then back down. "Hajime, I really was concerned about you. And I didn't just stay with you because I needed to for Dr. Otonashi's plan. I stayed because I… because I guess I really did love you again." While Hinata knew this wasn't the time or place, he felt a happy swooping in his stomach, and he could feel his cheeks, and see Nanami's, turning red.

Nanami remained curled up on the edge of the couch. "And then, with Netherlands, well…"

"You slept with me to keep my mind off of Netherlands retreating when you showed up," Hinata surmised. Nanami nodded. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't apologize. It was fun," Nanami said, "if anyone should apologize, it was me. I manipulated you."

"And that's any different from what I did to you?" Hinata said fiercely. Their eyes met again, and then they both broke off again. "I guess we're perfect for each other, then: two people, broken by each other."

"Yeah. And, well, you know the rest." Nanami looked down. "Hajime, I just don't have my heart in Despair anymore. I told Chihiro about Gundam-kun, and then Chihiro became a murderer. They killed the old Chihiro that we all knew, and then they killed the new one, and now they're going to kill a lot of people. I just… I just don't know what to do, though…"

"Let Germany die."

Nanami looked up at Hinata. She looked startled. "Hajime-"

"Let Germany die," Hinata repeated, and he reached out a hand, "and let Chiaki Nanami live. You'll be safe with me, I promise, regardless of what you did. I'll vouch for you."

Nanami looked at him, and then she reached out her own hand and took his. "Hajime," Nanami said, "why would you do this? I'm not the woman you knew and loved…"

"Chiaki," Hinata replied, "I'm not the man you knew and loved. But that doesn't change the fact that we're still family, like you said all those years ago." With his other hand, he wiped his eyes, and was surprised to feel tears. He gave Nanami a smile, and she returned it.

"Thank you," Nanami said. She stood up, and Hinata stood up with her. "I guess, in our own ways, we're better now," she said. "The game's tomorrow, but I don't think I'll follow Dr. Otonashi's orders."

"Oh?"

"I guess I love you more than I have despair," Nanami said. "I guess I'm finally cured." She tugged at his hand and lead him towards the door. "C'mon. It's late, and we have a busy game tomorrow. I think I'll be a good teammate."

And before she opened the door, she shared a kiss with Hinata. It was brief, fleeting, much like the ones in their more innocent school days; and yet, for Hinata, it was more powerful than the one he'd shared the night Netherlands attacked. They broke off when another lightning bolt illuminated the room.

The power went off.

They stepped out into the hallway, their hands intertwined, while Nanami felt along the walls. There was a _clunking _sound, and for the briefest moments in a flash of light coming from his room, Hinata saw the pink-and-white Usami standing in the doorway, a canister leaking white gas spinning on the ground in front of it. Nanami gasped. "I wove supwises," the rabbit said in an unnaturally monotone voice, "Welcome to the game, twaitors!"

The world went black.

* * *

**A/N: So, how did I do? This took quite a bit of writing and rewriting, but I think I'm happy with the final product. So, fun fact: originally this story was from Nanami's point-of-view and was going to feature Kuzuryuu as the main villain. When I decided that Nanami was going to be initially villainous, though, I had to change plots and viewpoints. **

**This chapter was also difficult because I was writing about a depressed and eventually suicidal character. The section from three years ago is short because I don't want to talk too much about something I've never been through, although I based Nanami's depression off of real accounts of depression I've read. I wasn't sure about including it, but I still did because it felt like a natural extension of what happened. I was worried that it might also come off as too codependent, but to be fair to myself, he left only a few weeks before the wedding and her dad did die in a very short period of time.**

**Anyways, next time: the game begins and quite possibly ends. Please review for any questions, comments, or concerns!**


	15. Izuru Kamukura

**A/N: By my count, there's two chapters and one epilogue left. We're almost there, folks.**

* * *

"Hinata?"

Slowly, Izuru Kamukura opened his eyes. He was immobile, in a horizontal position, in a small… bed, covered with black-and-white sheets with a small logo on them. Kamukura glanced up and saw a bright white light emanating from the ceiling… artificial light. He glanced around him, and saw that he was in some sort of… infirmary, or a clinic or a hospital room. Whatever it was, it was private, and it was new.

There was nobody in the room.

The… door opened, and a man walked in. "Hello, Kamukura-san," the man said, and he stopped at the foot of the bed. "Don't reply just yet, your vocabulary should be almost finished reasserting itself," he predicted. Kamukura stared at the man. Was he behind this? "I am Dr. Yasuke Matsuda," he continued, "Ultimate Neurologist and student head of the Hope Creation Program."

"And I am Izuru Kamukura," Kamukura said. His voice was unsteady. "Ultimate Hope."

"Very good. I see Enoshima-san's discussion with you earlier stuck," Matsuda replied. Matsuda pulled up a chair. "You were once Hajime Hinata, of course. You aren't any more. Don't forget that."

"What do you want."

"I want your cooperation, Kamukura-san," Matsuda said silkily. "I want you to show the world what true despair is like…"

"Hinata?" the voice from nowhere repeated.

Matsuda payed it no heed. "What do you say?" he said, and a clipboard simply appeared in his hands. "Will you show the world its foolishness?"

"Who are you?" Kamukura said.

Matsuda smiled, and his face cracked. The old face slid off, revealing a woman's face underneath. "Does it matter, Kamukura-kun?" the woman said, "I am Junko Enoshima." She stood up and leaned forward. Her lab coat vanished, and her loosely-fit tie dangled over the bed. "The Ultimate Despair to your Ultimate Hope."

Kamukura stared blankly at her. "Why would Hope and Despair ally?"

"Because your 'hope' is talent. You are a tool," Enoshima lectured, "you will forever be in service to Japan. You will make her great again. And you will never have a say in it."

Kamukura continued staring blankly at her. What was this woman talking about?

"You may not believe me, but you'll see soon enough," Enoshima said. She gave him a very cruel smile. "Izuru-kun, your only role in life is to learn, to acquire new things… and that's all you'll want. Before long, you'll realize… you're superior to me, to everyone else."

Enoshima turned her back on Kamukura and began walking towards the door. Before she left the room, she glanced at Kamukura again. "You're damned to be held down by everyone else," she said, "I'm sure you'll realize soon enough."

She opened the door and then walked out of the room. The door slammed shut, and then the walls began creaking ominously. Kamukura glanced back up as the world began turning red. The ceiling vanished, showing a giant black-and-white bear… Monobear… looking down at him. "Hajime!" it said urgently, in a very familiar voice.

"Hinata!" the voice from earlier repeated, and the walls tore away from the room and went flying up into the Monobear's black half. "Hinata," the voice said, and Kamukura realized the Monobear was talking to him. Its voice was grotesque…

The floor vanished, and the bed went flying upwards, towards the glowing red eye.

* * *

"Hajime?"

Slowly, Hajime Hinata opened his eyes. Nanami, Komaeda, and Sonia were standing over him. "You've been asleep longer than the rest of us," Sonia said, and she backed away. Komaeda and Nanami followed suit, letting Hinata sit up.

They were in a dormitory highly reminiscent of Hinata's old school, Hope's Peak Academy. The difference, of course, was that the room had four beds haphazardly arranged in the center, and yellow police tape hung like a web on the door. Hinata quickly glanced around, but there was no Monobear in sighed.

Nanami still looked like she had last night, but Komaeda and Sonia were in their bedclothes. "Surprised?" Hinata muttered, glancing at Komaeda.

"I didn't think they had to knock us out," Komaeda replied.

Nanami pulled Hinata up and then went to examine the door. "I guess you were wrong, Sonia-san," she said, with her door on the handle. "It didn't unlock."

Sonia sighed. "Damn…" Komaeda muttered, "then how is this going to work?"

"I thought you had a hand in planning the game, Chiaki?" Hinata said. She nodded.

"It's just your simple lock-everyone-in make-them-kill-each-other game," she elaborated, "my job right now is just to observe, or at least that's what Monobear told me when I woke up. They're probably going to kill me anyways."

"Monobear?"

"Yeah, but he already left," Komaeda said. He nodded to a panel on the ceiling. "Something tells me he'll come back, though."

As if on cue, the panel opened and Monobear fell down into the room. "You got me, Britain," it squeaked, "well, listen up. The game's about to begin, the first of many! Now, this isn't going to be your typical game. There's gonna be no memory modification, no trials and absolutely _no _pesky friendships getting in the way! Kamukura-kun, you're already set up as the winner, so don't worry! Have fun! Give in, and bash away! We've specially retrieved everyone who's done you wrong!"

Monobear snapped its… paw, somehow, and a series of panels slid away from the wall. "Spared no expense!" Monobear said proudly, and he sprung back up into the panel. Hinata glanced away from the ceiling and back at the panels: all manner of weapons, from pipes and a riot shield to pistols and poison, were nestled on hooks and illuminated by a powerful overhead light. With a loud _click_, the door unlocked and swung open.

"So, should we arm up and fight?" Sonia said, uncertainty evident in her voice. "If this is a fight to the death…"

"This is a fight to the death for Izuru Kamukura," Komaeda pointed out. "We're all his enemies. I think Monobear intends for us to attack Hajime, and then somehow he'll become Kamukura from that and kill us all."

Nanami, Sonia, and Komaeda all stared at Hinata. "Don't worry, you'll probably kill me before I have the chance to become Kamukura," Hinata said. "Listen, if that's really a concern, just put a slug into my head, okay?" He walked over to the weapon rack, pulled off a pistol, and then handed it to Nanami. "Make sure I don't snap," he said.

Nanami was speechless. She tried to force the gun back into his hands, but Hinata simply sighed and said, "please."

"I'm not going to let you die, Hajime," Nanami said. "I'm not going to assist someone's suicide, not after what happened to me." She replaced the gun in its holder. "Especially not to you."

"Well, I'll hold on to the gun, just in case," Komaeda said, and he grabbed the weapon. "Want anything, Nanami-san, Sonia?"

"I don't want to fight," Nanami said. "Not unless people are getting hurt…"

"You planned it, that's the point," Komaeda said harshly.

"Lay off her," Hinata snapped.

"No, he's right," Nanami said. "Anything nonlethal?"

Komaeda looked over the tools, then shook his head. "I guess you could have the riot shield," he said, and he pulled it off its rack and handed it to Nanami. "Sonia?"

"Just give me a gun," she replied. "And Hajime-kun…"

"Nothing. If I'm going to be Kamukura, then I want nothing," Hinata stated. "All the better for stopping me."

"Right," Komaeda said. Nanami hoisted up her shield and gestured behind her, and Komaeda, Sonia, and Hinata moved behind the protection of the riot shield.

"I was actually gesturing to Hajime," she said, and Sonia and Komaeda laughed weakly and moved to the edge of the door.

And just in time, too, as a massive gunshot filled the air and a bullet slammed into the wall just behind where Komaeda's head had been moments before. "Come out, little Britain, I'll make you pay for abandoning me!" Hiroshi Nakejawa snarled.

Komaeda smirked. "Really, Netherlands? I thought it was Germany who betrayed you?"

"You're right," Netherlands replied, and he stepped into plain view. His hair was haggard, his skin was even paler than before, he had large bags under his eyes, and he was holding a massive rifle in his hands. "Time for the bitch to die," he said, pulling the rifle up to Nanami's head.

Komaeda fired, and Netherlands staggered back thanks to the bullethole in his skull. Nanami shuddered. "Looks like the bitch is dead," quipped Komaeda. "Idiot. Wonder how many are left?"

"How can… how can you be so…" Nanami said, but Komaeda snorted.

"Let's go, we're sitting dogs," Sonia said. The group of four carefully marched into the hallway, stepping over Nakejawa's corpse. "Where to?"

"Down the hall, into the nearest room, if this is the game I'm thinking about," Nanami said. They ran down the hall, Komaeda running backwards to cover their rear, "the Kamukura game is all of the dormitories of Hope's Peak, from first to fifth years. It's three stories tall, and has locker rooms for each class on the second floor."

"How'd you modify Hope's Peak?" Hinata said. No one had emerged into the hallway yet.

"We've had control of the school for months," Nanami said. "Jin Kirigiri was so afraid of the Monobears that Chihiro-kun planted in his granddaughter's room that he let us do anything. I don't think he knows about the weapons, though."

"I should hope not," Hinata muttered. They reached the stairs to see the Kirigiris, both with pistols in hand. They leveled their guns, but lowered them again.

"Hinata-san," Kirigiri said, "I heard some gunshots."

"Nakejawa tried to kill Nanami-san, so I shot him," Komaeda said matter-of-factly. "Anything going on up there?"

"We passed the Masarus," Makoto said. "Ryotsa-san's got his hands on a big lead pipe, and Minako-san's got a machine gun, so I think they'll be safe for now."

"Who else is in here?" Hinata said.

The Kirigiris shrugged, but Komaeda said, "Us and Netherlands makes seven people, and there are sixteen people in every game. That means we're missing nine others."

"Thanks for doing simple math for us," Hinata said. "Anything else up there?"

Kirigiri shook her head, and then the characteristic whirr of a machine-gun started up, from somewhere upstairs. Kirigiri and Makoto paled. "Let's get out of here," Sonia said quickly, and after Hinata kicked a bedroom next to the stairs open, the group of six huddled in the room. Nanami was the last one in and slammed the door, and then pressed her eye up to the peephole. Something thudded outside, and the machine-gun sound stopped.

"Is it Mina?" Hinata said.

"No, it's Hanamura-kun and Nidai-kun. But Nidai-kun's bleeding-" Nanami gasped and withdrew from the door. Hinata quickly took her place and looked through the peephole: Nidai had smashed Hanamura's head into the stairway and picked up the machine-gun, and was now using it to bludgeon Hanamura's head.

"Komaeda!" Hinata said, and Komaeda nodded and rushed forward. He kicked the door open, and Komaeda' began firing into Nidai's head. Unlike with Netherlands, he didn't drop: instead, he whirled around, just in time for Sonia to shoot him as well. He gave one final bellow and collapsed.

"Something's wrong," Nanami moaned, "the deaths shouldn't have started by now-"

Sonia crouched next to Nidai and examined something on his head. "His eyes look wrong," she said, "what happened-"

"I gave him some very potent drugs that I knew he had a violent reaction to," said Mikan Tsumiki. She stepped down the stairs and picked the machine-gun up. She looked like she was struggling to hold it. "Once Hinata's dead, I can go. I can go to the river and jump-"

Tsumiki was cut off by Nanami rushed forward and knocking her onto the stairs, sending the machine-gun rattling down the stairwell. Hinata stepped over to it and picked it up, examining it. Tsumiki growled and began getting up, only for Sonia to shoot her in the leg, causing her to buckle and hit the stairs in a painful-sounding _crunch_. "Are you judge, jury, and executioner?" Makoto shouted at her.

"Everyone here except you two and Hajime-kun are probably going to be in Despair," Sonia said. "They knew full well this would happen, and I'm not going to die just because of one bad thing that happened."

"We have too much to live for," Komaeda added. "You were right, Hinata."

"So," Hinata said, "one angry conversation last night is all you needed to turn on your boss."

"We did a lot of thinking on the honeymoon," Sonia said, "you were just the final push."

"Are you going to keep talking in full view of everyone else?" Kirigiri demanded, "c'mon, we need to get out of the way!"

"Kyouko, what about-"

"Self-defense. We don't have the ability to imprison anyone right now," Kirigiri said. "Although, can we stop shooting at the head?"

"I wasn't shooting at the head! I shot the leg!" Sonia protested, and then she took off up the stairs, followed by Komaeda and the Kirigiris. Nanami moved to join them, but stopped. Hinata was still staring at the machine-gun. It was surprisingly light.

"Hajime, c'mon!" Nanami shouted, and she set off up the stairs. Hinata sighed and followed her.

* * *

He followed Nanami up the stairs, but the senseless violence had seemed to awaken him to something. No one felt anyone remorse. One person was dead, two were dying, and yet no one even cared. True, Makoto Kirigiri had been appalled, but it seemed that he was so desensitized that even he didn't really care that a man had just been gunned down.

The Ultimate Student began examining the situation more closely. The group was waiting at the top of the stairs for him and Nanami, and they quickly evacuated into a vacated room; an empty weapons slot in the wall showed that someone had previously been in here, and the circle of beds was set up such that an open space for the Monobear was set up.

Perfect.

He set to work. "If we can get into the system can we stop Despair?" he asked Nanami.

She nodded. "But it'll be hard to do that," Nanami said, and she stared up at the Monobear panel. "We set up a tube system for the Monobears, but they're so large that it'd be easy for someone to crawl up one."

"Good," he replied. "I need a prybar." He looked around the room. "We need one if we want to stop it."

"Right," said Kirigiri. "And where do you propose we find one?"

"We just need a bar, right?" Komaeda said cheerfully. "So let's find some shelves or something and just make one!"

The panel on the ceiling lowered and Monobear appeared. "Hey!" it squeaked, "Attacking me won't let you escape! You need to either kill everyone or kill Hinata-san-"

Monobear was cut off by a burst of machine-gun fire. The bear toppled off of its platform and the platform quickly raised again. "Let's go," Izuru Kamukura said, "we won't have much time."

* * *

The trek to find a suitable shelf didn't take long. The locker rooms were still in the same place as before, and once Komaeda'd led Kamukura over to the room it was easy for Kamukura to fashion the perfect tool to pry a panel open. Thanks to Kamukura's machine-gun, it was easy for them to ward off any stray Monobears as well.

The locker room brought two distractions, however, as the group found another two members of the game: Mahiru Koizumi, who had been clubbed over the head but was found to be still alive, and Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, who, for all his posturing, was obviously over his head. Kamukura really didn't care in either case.

"Hajime, she's our friend!" Nanami protested, "Regardless of whether Monobear is watching or not-"

"Who cares about her? Just save me!" wailed Kuzuryuu. Nanami shot him a glare and bent down to examine her friend. "There's no blood, I already checked after I hit her!"

Kamukura brought the end of his machine-gun down on Kuzuryuu, sending him toppling to the floor, and gestured to him. "Kirigiri-kun, please watch over Kuzuryuu and Koizumi-san once we leave. Barricade yourself in. And make sure they're both treated for any head injuries," he ordered. Makoto glanced at his wife, who nodded.

"Now we need a good room for a panel," Kirigiri said. "Any suggestions?"

"The closest rooms would be over by the hallway feeding into the school," Komaeda said. And thus they headed off, Kamukura, Nanami, Kirigiri, Komaeda, and Sonia.

"You can't break in!" snarled another Monobear, hopping into the hallway from the ceiling. Another burst of machine-gun fire left a smoking bear.

"When we get there, I'll go in first so I can lead you to the controls!" Nanami shouted.

"And I'll go along to provide help," Komaeda said, "Sonia, Kirigiri-san, can you two guard the room from the Monobears or anyone else who wants to intervene until we get to Despair?"

"Right," Sonia said, and Kirigiri sighed and nodded.

They reached the room easily enough- just another former dormitory- and with another Monobear machine-gunned down, Komaeda and Sonia pried the ceiling panel off, exposing the transport tunnel. Nanami went up first, her riot shield in hand, and then Kamukura followed with his machine-gun, and Komaeda brought up the rear. "This way," Nanami said, and she crawled forward.

* * *

The trek through the Monotubes was, all things considered, short. Kamukura did not have much to look at for most of the time besides Nanami's skirt, and the entire time was spent crawling through the large ducts was cramped and noisy. At one point they went through a duct with grates looking down at the swimming pool; the pool had turned red, and two bodies floated ominously in it.

They arrived at the hiding place of Despair. It was just a computer lab, the old data storage room, and there wasn't even a grate at the vent entrance to it. No Monobears had been encountered, but now there were half a dozen, screaming insults, when Kamukura emerged. Within seconds they had all been blasted out of the way.

"Great job, Hajime," Komaeda said, clapping Kamukura on the back. Then he clapped Nanami on the back, saying, "Great job too, Chiaki-san."

"Great job, Chiaki," Kamukura echoed.

"Great? You mean amazing! You little traitor, you've done your job better than you could ever think!"

A door with a Monobear face on it opened up and Dr. Yasuke Matsuda emerged, dressed in a medical coat. Kamukura wondered why exactly he was _wearing _a medical coat, except to push an image of being a doctor. "Hello, Persia," Komaeda said, "we've come to get rid of Despair."

"So you've come to fight off Despair, eh? You really think you can stop us?" Matsuda replied. He stepped right over to Kamukura, Komaeda, and Nanami. "As I was saying, Germany, you've done wonderfully well. Now, let's give the final push." Matsuda pulled a gun out of his coat and pointed it at Nanami's head. "Kill Britain or I kill you. Either way will work."

"I don't even have a gun," Nanami snapped. Matsuda smiled and, not keeping his gun off of Nanami, reached his other hand into his coat and pulled a second gun out of his coat. He handed it to Nanami, who put her shield on the floor. Nanami looked at Matsuda uncertainly, and then stared at Komaeda. She examined the gun, and glanced at Matsuda again. Matsuda gave her a smile.

Nanami shot him in the arm.

"You bitch!" Matsuda yelled, but with a second bullet in the throat from Nanami, Matsuda collapsed.

"Dead," Kamukura announced, when he bent over and examined Matsuda. Nanami threw the gun on top of his body and picked her shield up. "One down, one to go," Kamukura added.

"Hajime, please don't talk about him like that," Nanami said quickly. Kamukura shrugged and stood up.

"Into the breach we go, then," Komaeda said, and the three walked past Matsuda's corpse and the Monobears to the Monobear door. It opened easily, revealing Dr. Ryouko Otonashi.

"Hello, Kamukura-san," Otonashi said without even turning around. Kamukura heard a _click _behind him and glanced behind himself to see Mukuro Ikusaba holding her own machine-gun aimed at their back. Kamukura grabbed Nanami and Komaeda's arms and threw them at Otonashi, then slammed the Monobear door.

"Your sister won't have a part here," snarled Kamukura. Otonashi turned around and smiled at him. Kamukura locked the door and the door began shuddering as Ikusaba kicked it.

Komaeda aimed his gun at Otonashi and Nanami held her shield up, and Kamukura leveled his machine-gun at her. Otonashi kept smiling.

"By now, you really should know better," Otonashi said, her voice sounding more electronic. Kamukura and Komaeda opened fire, but the bullets passed right through her. "I'm waiting downstairs, Izuru Kamukura," she added.

Otonashi pixelated, and for a second or two appeared to simply be a large, pink-and-black pixel blur; then, she refocused as a blonde woman with a devilish smile and great fashion sense.

"I am the queen of Despair," Junko Enoshima said, and with a few gunshots Ikusaba was able to pull the door off its hinges. She grabbed Kamukura and roughly pushed him towards a hatch that opened just in time to let him in; Nanami followed, and the hatch slammed shut.

"All shall love me and despair!" Enoshima's booming voice announced as Kamukura and Nanami fell down a seemingly endless shaft.

* * *

**A/N: Next time: part one of the climax! Kamukura's unknowingly fallen into Despair's trap, something that not even Matsuda was aware of, and now he and Nanami are on their way to confront the Queen of Despair herself, Junko Enoshima.**

**I know I featured this same room in the climax of my "Alter HAL" story, but I promise that the layout will be completely different. You'll see.**

**Questions, comments, concerns? Merely review.**


	16. Junko Enoshima

**A/N: No, this is not dead! As a matter of fact, this is the second-to-last chapter. **

* * *

Stilted wedding music was playing when Nanami came to. Hinata was still out cold on the carpet, so Nanami wearily looked up at the arched ceiling, and then all around them. She was in a wedding chapel filled with old wooden pews, a ratty red carpet, and a worn-down alter behind which a Monobear dressed as a Catholic priest stood. Massive white lights poured in from cracked stained glass. She looked behind her, and saw that the entrance doors were covered with discolored wood nailed down. She was trapped, and so was Hinata.

"Welcome," Junko Enoshima said, although her voice emanated through the entire building from no discernible source. "Is Kamukura-kun not awake yet?"

Hinata stirred and groaned. "What happened?" he moaned.

"Aww… still not awake? I thought you were!" cooed Enoshima. "Well, that'll be easy enough to fix."

Nanami helped Hinata to his feet. "What are you talking about?" Hinata groaned.

"Why, you, Kamukura-kun," Enoshima said silkily. "Ultimate Despair."

Hinata looked around, and Nanami moved over to the door as the music stopped. There was nothing she could do for Hinata at the moment except to find a way out. She put her hand on the door, but it would not open. "Is this even a real door?"

"Of course not," Enoshima said. "Now, silent, Germany. Your boyfriend and I have some talking to do."

Nanami turned away from the door and looked around the room, determined to find some way to Hinata. She hadn't taken part in planning this wedding chapel, but there had to be a way out. There just had to, otherwise Kamukura would be useless. Nanami looked around, analyzed the room like it was a game (since, technically, it was all part of Enoshima's game).

The windows were too high up, the pews, upon further inspection, were bolted down, and there were no convenient grates this time. That left one choice: the Monobear. "Kamukura-kun, you know that you have the ability to surpass everyone, to show everyone despair?"

"My name is Hajime Hinata!" shouted Hinata. Nanami felt a swell of pride for him. She knew what the plan was, and for him to be resisting it so far…

"Hajime! The Monobear!" she said. She grabbed his hand and ran towards the Monobear.

_BANG_.

Nanami's eyesight began turning white and she staggered forward. Pain was coursing through her, and she stumbled to her knees and then to her stomach. It hurt the worst on the side of her waist, and she felt her side and then brought her hand up to her faltering vision to see blood. Her head began feeling faint. She heard someone yell faintly "Chiaki!" and a wedding song…

She felt something warm on her side, something besides the blood, and thought of Hajime as her life ebbed.

* * *

Ever since he had landed in the chapel Hinata had a pounding headache. Something was definitely… inside him now, or at least that's what it felt like. The surroundings weren't helping, and every word Enoshima spoke seemed to bring a great _boom_ing sound. He and Enoshima talked a little- Enoshima was confusing him- while Nanami looked around the room. Then she had grabbed his hand and yelled, "Hajime! The Monobear!" and began running forwards.

And then Hinata's worst nightmare happened. A gunshot rang out and Nanami collapsed. Her hand slipped out of his, pulling him down to the ground, and as he got onto his knees he saw her clothes turning red and blood pooling beneath her. For a moment, he was stunned, and then a massive migraine forced him to the ground. "Chiaki!" he screamed, and an artificially slow wedding march began playing.

And then something came back to him: "And then, the game would start. Nanami would be killed by a mole, Hinata would become Izuru Kamukura, permanently, and then Kamukura, 'Ultimate Hope', would kill a group of high-profile people on national television, and the government's role in creating him would be revealed."

When he reopened his eyes, he looked at Nanami again. She was not dead yet, and her breathing was haggard. Even though Kamukura knew he had to confront Enoshima (_why?_) he also knew he had to save Nanami best he could. He rolled her over on her side to keep her breathing, and he tore a strip off his shirt and used it to block the wound and held it on with another strip. He grabbed a stack of bibles from the pews and used them to elevate her feet, and he ripped the carpet off the floor to make a makeshift blanket for her. Then he added more strips and more strips of cloth. "I wish I had actual supplies," he muttered. The same wedding song played in the background, but Enoshima said nothing and the Monobear just watched him.

He knew the bleeding wouldn't stop. He'd spent too much time as it was. "I'll be back," he promised, and Kamukura looked at the left ceiling, which had nothing, and then at the Monobear. He returned to where he and Nanami had landed and picked up the machine-gun. _Take the riot shield_. Kamukura sighed and bowed to the wishes of the other person. He blasted the Monobear and the alter to pieces, and then picked up the shield.

"You need to control your temper," Enoshima lectured, and a second Monobear popped up (also dressed as a priest). _Bingo_. "Now, let's see if you can find a way out. Find a way out, and _maybe_ I'll let your friend Komaeda down here to treat Nanami-san."

Kamukura marched forward and, picking up the Monobear by its ear, hurled it into the wall, where it exploded. Then he jammed the riot shield in the Monobear entry hatch when it opened, toppled the remains of the alter onto it to keep it in place, and opened up the metal hatch beneath the alter.

The climb down was short, and ended in a pitch-black cavern. Red lights blinked on, slowly illuminating a room that he vaguely remembered from the other person's memories. He was in some sort of entry hall, and Junko Enoshima herself was leaning against the door. "So, Kamukura-kun, we meet once again," she said. "I suppose you want to know what's going on?"

"You want me to give in to despair and show Japan and the whole world the perversion of hope," Kamukura said. "I haven't exactly shown hope, you know."

Enoshima smirked at him. "I know," she said, "but no one really knows who you are to begin with? But you know what you _are_, Kamukura-kun, or at least what Hinata-san is? You're the ordinary man. You're middle-class, you're dating but not married, you're young, and you don't have any exceptional talents." Enoshima opened the door and walked further into the apartment.

Kamukura followed her, still clutching his machine-gun. But Enoshima was nowhere to be seen- instead, Minako Masaru was waiting in a chair in a pile of rubble in what looked like a kitchen. "Hello, Kamukura-san," she said calmly, "welcome to my brother's old apartment."

"What do you want?" Kamukura said.

"I want you to die," Minako said, standing up. "With Nanami-san's death, I know my brother died too. He was always co-dependent like that, I guess. Or at least, that's what Matsuda made him into. My brother tried to be aloof, but when he was operated on, that was given to you."

"To program a mind is not as easy as programming a computer," Kamukura said. "To the other man, he lost his family and only had his friends left. But when turned on them, and they turned on him, he was left alone and friendless. So for him to come back into this world, for him to fall in love and be loved back again, was now something meaningful in a world where he no longer had any meaning."

"Stop making excuses," Minako said coldly, punching her palm with her fist. "Especially for the man you killed. You ripped both of our lives apart, _especially_ from each other."

"How'd you get here, then?" Kamukura said. _Let her shoot you_. _We have nothing left_. _Just have her shoot Enoshima… _"Are you in league with her?"

"I'm the hostage for Enoshima. My husband's the mole- shoot Nanami, or I get shot. He chose to shoot her over having me killed."

"And you are going to strangle me?" Kamukura said, "I have a machine-gun, Mina."

And then, almost on a whim, he forced the gun into her hands. "Shoot me, Mina," Hinata pleaded, and with another terrific headache Kamukura was back in charge. He reached for the gun again, but Minako retreated, the gun pointed at him, her face disbelieving.

"Hajime-onisan?" she said for a moment, and then she lowered the machine-gun. "You're still in there?"

Kamukura put his hand to his head and staggered past Mina. "Go up the ladder," Hinata gasped, "go tend to her, please…" and then Kamukura slammed into the door. Mina ran past, still clutching the machine-gun, and Kamukura wrenched open the door and entered the small TV room.

Memories buzzed through his head, of the old times before Despair entered their lives… Kamukura toppled onto the shredded couch and clutched his head. The pain was becoming worse. After a minute of clutching his head, he finally staggered up and looked around. Enoshima was watching him. "Hello again, Kamukura-kun," she said, and her eyes seemed to glint in the darkness. "I wonder if Minako can actually help your girlfriend? Regardless… let me tell you something."

"I don't have time," Kamukura said, but he when he rushed towards Enoshima and tried to strangle her his hands simply went through her neck and he slammed into the wall.

"Stop messing with the technology," Enoshima said, her holographic form teleporting to the door Kamukura had just come from. "Really, Kamukura-kun. Now, I want to tell you something, and then I want to show you something, and then I want you to make a choice."

"My plan was foiled by a computer, of all things. Alter Ego. The first year my classmate Fujisaki was at Hope's Peak, he encouraged his AI to interact with everyone. At some point, Alter Ego convinced the headmaster to let him run every computer," Enoshima said. "Alter Ego's gone now, of course- we purged him- but he found a way to record my conversations with Mukuro and Yasuke in the bath and the bathroom and even outside the school. I found out later, it was a little drone that Souda built for Alter Ego that he used to keep an eye on us," she said dismissively.

Enoshima continued: "Although we were able to make you, our plan to use you was foiled when Alter Ego and Kyouko Kirigiri were able to convince, subtly I guess, Nanami and Komaeda to try and reach out to the Hinata beneath the Kamukura. It worked. And because Kirigiri knew our plans she was able to protect the student council. Now, thanks to Fujisaki and me breaking up Oowada and Ishimaru's relationship for him, the evidence was deleted from Alter Ego, but it was too late: although the headmaster could not do anything to us, he kept a close eye on us. We acted the perfect angels until we left school."

"What happened between those three then?" Kamukura said, although the other person was yelling _Stop stalling! We need to get doctors somehow!_ "Did you have a hand in Fujisaki joining Despair?"

"Oh, yes, yes we _did_," Enoshima said. "Ishimaru had an… unstable relationship with Oowada that he tried to hide. And Oowada, he fell into despair after a campaign run by Ishimaru arrested and held most of Oowada's gang. So when I reconnected them, well… with some drinks, Ishimaru and Oowada fell back in love again. Or at least, that's my interpretation. And after meeting in secret for months, Ishimaru agreed to run away with Oowada, leaving Fujisaki to fall into Despair at the same time as his cousin. And then I had Oowada killed and Ishimaru vanished. A happy ending."

"I see," Kamukura said. "Are you going to move on-"

"Kamukura-kun, you and I aren't that different," Enoshima said. "We were both created by surgery, to serve an ideal higher than ourselves. Admittedly, they were both, in the end, on my orders."

"What are you talking about?" Kamukura said.

"I still have the body of Ryouko Otonashi," Enoshima said. "I've been her for years. We act different, believe it or not. I'm told I'm more… unhinged! Imagine that. But like you, there was always a part of me that wanted control, that saw itself as the fake identity, the one who was… superior in the eyes of many. Ryouko Otonashi for me- and you, Izuru Kamukura. You can learn anything, that's your job. How else would you know, without any medical training beyond what you were taught by the school six years ago, how to treat Nanami-san?"

"I know what I am," Kamukura stated. "Get to the point."

"Kamukura-kun," Enoshima lectured, "we were held down. Two extraordinary people, dragged down by our mere existence, and the mere existence of others. People without talent are leeches, and we must serve them. That's why we're trained. I have to counsel people who can't control themselves. You had no choice but to be Japan's slave."

"You make a good point, Enoshima," Kamukura replied. "Although you're really nothing like me."

"Well, I became the Ultimate Psychiatrist," Enoshima said. She appeared to walk over to a boarded-up window and seemed to gaze out into nothing. "Enoshima vanished, and I started work at Yasuke's hospital. It took a long time for Kirigiri to catch on, but she could never prove that I was Enoshima. I think she suspected it. But they a hard enough time putting Tanaka in prison, even though he was wracked with guilt over Souda's death. That showed them how slippery Despair could be."

"Is that why his vocal cords were ripped out?"

"Indeed. Souda came to me because he was uncomfortable with how… obsessed he was with Princess Nevermind. But I convinced him to intensify his efforts, and one night when he went out to 'talk' to Nevermind, or rather, to stalk her, he was hit by Tanaka and killed. Tanaka drove off, afraid of what he'd done. And then I told Nevermind that Tanaka had hit and killed Souda and was wanted the police, and for her to help catch him. Some of my people found Tanaka and tore out his vocal cords and broke his hands, so that he couldn't tell the police what happened. He was thrown in prison following a lengthy trial, and the Despair-aligned prison warden arranged for him to die. Apparently, Komaeda was able to sneak him out. Still, that's what happened."

_Stop her stalling. See the video_. "Enoshima," Kamukura said, "what about the video?"

"I'm almost done," Enoshima said. She whirled around. "_God_, you're impatient. I'm almost done. In the months while I was becoming Otonashi, my sister dressed up as Enoshima. The best news we had was of the Kirigiris' wedding. You were there, and you were getting married soon, and shooting Naegi was the perfect move to make. You ran off after I sent you that threat. Nanami joined Despair, and then Fujisaki. Even better, Kirigiri convinced Nanami to see me, since at the time she saw no reason to connect me to Despair. She learned better."

"And when I came back, you set your final plans in motion," Kamukura stated. "Which I know all about. Although- one thing. Why don't you care that Matsuda died?"

"Because it's more despair-inducing that way!" Enoshima said perkily. "We had some good times together, but he was always going to die. It was part of the plan, even if he didn't know that."

"Oh?"

The old television in the room flared to life and security feeds began showing of various rooms in Hope's Peak. There was the headmaster's office, with Headmaster Kirigiri and a face-down man lying in their own blood, and then there was the pool with four bodies bobbing, and then there was Kirigiri and Nevermind barricading the room she was in while the door shuddered ominously, and then there was Komaeda and Ikusaba wrestling over a gun, and so on and so forth. And he saw the other people, people he'd seen at the wedding and the bachelors' party, people from school and from the government, from teenagers to old men and women. He saw the strong killing the weak, the weak killing the weaker, and the weak banding together to kill the strong.

"We have over 900 hostages here," Enoshima said, "only a third of them are Despair. And of the 900, about half have killed or been killed." As if to emphasize the point, the camera switched to the cafeteria where an old man with a machine-gun was firing at a girl desperately trying to set off a grenade- only to blow herself up. "Sickening, isn't it? This is being broadcast to all of the world. Just like this is. The militaries are standing by, but they can't attack- they can't break through. This place was designed to withstand nuclear attack, airstrikes, even planes flown into it, and my sister upgraded the defenses. Already, the populace of dozens of countries have begun rioting too."

"How long has it been?"

"Two weeks. You were out cold. It was a simple trick, just like what happened to everyone else in your little pod," Enoshima said. "The benefit of an Ultimate Cryogenist, I suppose."

Kamukura glared at her. "You mentioned a choice?"

"Izuru Kamukura, you are the hope of Japan," Enoshima said. The door to the bedroom swung open. "Japan, an ailing country saddled with massive debts, a hopeless rivalry with China, an aging populace and a falling birth rate. But the talents of Kamukura, a super-man, would bring hope to Japan and the Japanese and propel her back into the stars. He would be able to boost exports and bring Japan back to the center-stage of the world's economy. He would negotiate new treaties, out-strategize the Chinese and even the Americans, and invent and devise whole new strategies and objects to bring the birth rate back up and to sustain the elderly longer. And all it went down the drain because Kamukura was disconnected from his empathy. Now admittedly, I don't know how Kamukura became a sociopath while Hinata retained his emotions. I'm not Yasuke."

Kamukura stepped, fearless, into the bedroom. The bed was shredded, and the television was showing more bloody security footage. The door to the bathroom opened, and he entered that: the room was barren, save the sink with a lever sticking out of the side-paneling. "What's this?"

"There are over 900 people here," Enoshima said. Her hologram self had vanished, but her voice still echoed. "600 are innocent of being in Despair. Of those 900, only 450 or so are either killed or killers, meaning that 450 people are innocent of wrongdoing here. Now I offer you a choice, Kamukura: if you notch that lever up, you will set off the killswitch for Mono Ego, who is keeping the militaries at bay, and you will release a gas that will kill everyone, including me, except for the people who are in the chamber you just came out of and the chamber you are in right now. If you notch that lever down, you will flood only that chamber with gas, the killswitch will be pulled, and I will hand myself over to the authorities. And if you do nothing, the violence will continue. I will leave in five minutes, via an untraceable method. Now, pick: what will the symbol of hope choose?"

Kamukura considered the options. Continued self-existence at the cost of 450 people of high standing and all ages, along with the murderers, but he would be killing Enoshima, or destruction of himself and the people that the other person cared about and was related to, and in return letting 450 people go, along with the murders, while still stopping Despair. Not doing anything was unthinkable.

But to die… no, he could not do that. There was so much to do. If he was to kill himself, Japan would suffer. Despair would win in the long run. He reached out for the lever. Better to kill a hundred to save a thousand. Better to kill a million to save 127 million.

Better to save himself for his talents, then let the untalented ones drag him down. Yes, he could she was saying: he would be a slave to Japan if he didn't act. And if he didn't kill her, then he would be a slave to Ultimate Despair. He reached out for the lever…

* * *

**A/N: And, just in case you had any lingering questions about Ishimaru or Gundam, there's a few answers. Hopefully Enoshima seems... off enough. Also- cliffhanger! Tell me, what do you think would be the right way to put the lever, up or down (although obviously, I already know the answer for the story)?**


End file.
